






COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 














































































































L. A. Fealy 






Jesus of Nazareth 

and 

His Disciples 


L. aT fealy 


Published by 

THE ALTRURIAN SOCIETY 

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. 

c 


3Ts o 


Copyright, 1914 
By 

L. A. FEALY 



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DEC 16 1914 
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©CU387994 

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Dedicated 
to mp 

Beloved Disciples . 


I 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER. PACE. 

I Jesus of Nazareth. 1 

II Discipleship . 26 

III Matthew . 49 

IV Mark. 66 

V Luke . 84 

VI John . 101 

VII Peter. 117 

VIII Stephen . 135 

IX James. 155 

X Nathanael . 170 

XI Judas Iscariot. 189 

XII Thomas . 206 

XIII Timothy. 226 

XIV Paul . 245 

































PREFACE. 


A GAIN one comes to us from out the 
boundless All, to speak anew the 
blessed message of Jesus of Nazareth, 
the Christ—who gave to the world God’s 
law of love through service, free from 
cant, creed or dogma. So simple that a 
child might understand and enter the 
kingdom and know God. 

“ Love God with all thy heart, with 
all thy soul, with all thy mind and with 
all thy strength,” and “ Love thy neigh¬ 
bor as thyself ” is the law. This God, 
this neighbor, this self are one. All that 
there is, was, or shall be. Just the one 
life manifesting through different forms. 

Knowing this, all hate, greed, gossip, 
judging, condemning, jealousy and their 
kin should be forever wiped out of hu¬ 
man consciousness and replaced by the 
knowledge that “ As ye do it unto the 
least of these my brethren, ye do it unto 


xi 


xii Preface. 

Me,”—to God; the eternal within you,— 
yourself! 

Again we would know of more ful¬ 
filling the law, that we may be known as 
Christians. Christ said:—“By these 
signs ye shall know them. They shall 
heal the sick, cast out devils and preach 
the kingdom of God.” Preaching the 
kingdom is showing the way to God 
consciousness as realization that “ The 
kingdom of God is within you.” “ Cast¬ 
ing out devils ’’ is ridding the brain of 
the tortuous detnons, hate, fear, malice, 
and all kindred thoughts that make one’s 
life a hell. “ Healing the sick ’’ is bring¬ 
ing the body into harmony with God’s 
law of life—by word or laying on of 
hands. 

The heart must be pure and the soul 
ruler of the physical house, before one can 
serve the Master. Blessed indeed is it to 
be a servant in the house of God. 

After all has been said and done and 
the life blood spent—the purpose is one— 
to know God and express God’s attri¬ 
butes in love and service. Oh, that the 


Preface . 


xiii 

power within, the word, sign or deed of 
these Christ servants and disciples shall 
awaken the sleeping souls of humanity to 
a consciousness today of the God within 
them that gives peace, knowledge, power 
—power to become vital beings, pulsating 
with All life, living the eternal now! 

“Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee 
down. 

Of shining gold or darker, baser ore; 

Love, hate,—good, bad and all the dual 
throng. 

Know, slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not 
free; 

For fetters tho of gold are not less strong 
to bind. 

Then off with them. 

Thus day to day, till Karma’s powers are 
spent 

Release the soul forever. No more is birth 
Nor I, nor thou, nor God, nor man. The “I” 
Has all become, the all is “I,” and bliss. 
Know thou art that.” 

Legare Bowles. 

















Chapter I. 


JESUS OF NAZARETH. 

<<YV7HOM sa Y ye that I, the Son of 
VV man, am?” 

There is much said of Christ, the Son 
of God; but too little of Jesus of Naz¬ 
areth, the “ Son of man.” The divine 
life is universally discussed; but the man, 
born of Mary and Joseph, is seldom 
thought of or mentioned. Yet it is far 
more important to know the man who be¬ 
came a God, than to speak of God. In 
Jesus of Nazareth, the man, the way is 
given whereby all men can do the works 
of God:—indeed be of God. 

History states that Jesus was bom in 
Bethlehem and had four brothers and 
three sisters, and that He was a lineal 
descendant of King David. Born of 
Mary and Joseph at a time when they 
had gone to Nazareth to pay taxes. It is 
recorded that King Herod, hearing of the 
1 


2 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


birth of one prophesied to be the future 
“ King of the Jews,” was troubled lest 
this be true and commanded that all 
children two years of age and under, be 
put to death. 

Joseph, being warned in a dream of 
this impending danger, took Mary and 
the child and secretly fled into Egypt. 
There the family remained until after 
Herod’s death. 

After the flight into Egypt, there is no 
record of Jesus, save that “ The child 
grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled 
with wisdom ” and that “ The grace of 
God was upon Him.” In the twelfth 
year of His life; without the knowledge 
of His parents, He went into the temple 
at Jerusalem and entered into argument 
with the Scribes and Pharisees. There, 
in reply to His mother’s reproach, Jesus 
made the direct statement of His mission; 
—“ I must be about my Father’s busi¬ 
ness.” 

For eighteen years after His experi¬ 
ence with the doctors in the temple, there 
is no further record of Him. It is pre- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


3 


sumed His life, as a youth, was prac¬ 
tically the same as that ordinarily lived, 
in His day and time. He had the same 
appetites, desires and tendencies which 
any youth would naturally have. 

At the end of eighteen years, or about 
the age of thirty. He came down the 
mountain to the river Jordan where John 
the Baptist was preaching and baptizing 
and, there, was Himself baptized. 

It was John who made that wonderful 
assertion, the profound truth of which 
should be laid hold of by all:—“ I indeed 
baptize you with water; but one mightier 
than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes 
I am not worthy to unloose: He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” 

After His baptism. He was “ led up 
of the spirit into the wilderness to be 
tempted of the devil.” There, was waged 
a death struggle with hate, lust, malice, 
contention, doubt and fear; these and their 
kind—all swaying tendencies of the mind 
and weaknesses of the flesh, so strong in 
their temptation. For forty days and 
forty nights in fasting and in prayer lasted 


4 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


this period of mighty test. It was in the 
wilderness that Jesus mastered the same 
temptations that must be met and con¬ 
quered by all who would attain. From it. 
He came forth Master, with all things of 
the bodily life, fleeting and vain, in com¬ 
plete subjection. Thus must the passions 
be subdued until the life is qualified to 
say: “ I am freeborn and of good re¬ 
pute,” for no one can attain a master mind 
as long as swayed by adverse thought cur¬ 
rents. 

Even as Jesus went into the wilderness 
to meet His great test, so must all who 
would master self go into the wilderness 
of the physical nature; to brave a similar 
struggle and there remain until every ten¬ 
dency, impulse and appetite has been met 
on its own plane, conquered and made 
subservient to the master will.’ The way 
to conquer the baser desires of man, is an 
absolute and continuous refusal to feed 
them. It is annihilation by starvation; 
called fasting and prayer. 

Various phases of psychic phenomena, 
such as clairaudience, clairvoyance, sub- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


5 


conscious solving of problems in mathe¬ 
matics, etc., are frequently the result of 
fatigue; in which the body, being in abey¬ 
ance the inner self or God principle, be¬ 
comes active and uses the body as a 
vehicle of expression. 

This psychological fact, the truth of 
which may be demonstrated by research, 
gives a reason for the wilderness. Jesus 
was following a natural law of the spirit¬ 
ual world when He sought conditions in 
which the body might be forced into 
abeyance, through fasting and the denial 
of all appetites; until the inner life could 
stand triumphant and say to the physical 
being:—“ Henceforth, not as you desire, 
but as God wills. So be it;—not accord¬ 
ing to impulses of the flesh, but as the 
spirit directs. Thus, a wondrous change 
takes place: for from an instinct governed 
being, there is a transition to the state of 
a living soul. 

Yet, even after this mighty crucial bat¬ 
tle is won, let the disciple be on guard, 
ever alert; lest that insidious foe, the body, 
creeps upon him unawares. The Savior, 


6 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


after He had raised Jesus of Nazareth to 
“ The Christ, the Son of the living God,” 
gave this admonition:—“Watch ye and 
pray, lest ye enter into temptation: the 
spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is 
weak.” 

Progress to perfection, entails an eternal 
fight. In “ Light on the Path,” it is 
stated that: after the perfect flower of the 
soul has opened and the wondrous life has 
been touched, there is a natural return of 
physical conditions. Then desire and 
temptation again assail and the fight must 
be ever repeated. 

In the life of Jesus, the soul had as¬ 
sumed its rightful place in His body and 
God was made manifest. Thus when the 
individual life has been mastered and all 
body desires are under control, God is 
expressed through it in the every-day com¬ 
munication of man with man. 

On the contrary, when the tendencies 
of the body come uppermost, God’s works 
cannot be performed or His righteousness 
expressed. This is according to natural 
law. Truly, when love is not the con- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


7 


trolling factor, the life activities are 
swayed by egotism and know nothing save 
desire to tear down; but, when the fight 
has been made and the life exemplified by 
Jesus has been touched, the word 
“ Master ” is written over the brow and 
such a one can say, with the conviction of 
truth: “ I shall see God.” Thus is man 
made more than man and qualified to say, 
as did Jesus to Simon Peter and Andrew, 
his brother:—“Follow me.” Had Christ 
not taught and exemplified the love that is 
an expression of God, He would have 
lived in vain; for Jesus, the Christ—the 
Master of Nazareth—would have passed 
unnoticed, with the death of Jesus, the 
carpenter’s son. 

The one great immutable law of God 
expression is; that man must conquer the 
body. So, in the story of Jesus’ life, soon 
after the baptism with water; there fol¬ 
lowed the true baptism, in the wilderness; 
a baptism “ With the Holy Ghost and 
with fire.” The fire of renunciation. This 
firey baptism must be undergone; for by 
it alone is all dross of the nature burned 


8 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


away and the pure flame of selfless love 
kindled in the heart. Only by such 
cleansing can there be preparedness to 
say: “ I am in the Father and the Father 
in me;” “ I am the way, the truth and the 
life;” “The Father that dwelleth in me. 
He doeth the works.” 

There can be no healing, neither can 
there be any true preaching, unless the 
spirit that is of God dwells within the 
preacher. All others are anti-Christs and 
as the Pharisees—hypocrites, making use 
of “ Much speaking,” that they may be 
heard of men. These are they who will 
not go within and lay hold of life, all 
powerful and eternal. They cannot say, 
as did Christ:—“ Thy will not mine be 
done.” 

How often has been heard the desire 
for an assurance of life beyond the grave, 
when belief would be swallowed up in 
knowledge? Knowledge is the result of 
desire and so experience of an after life 
depends upon “ Where your treasures 
are.” If in Heaven, then there must 
sometime be realization. If it is to be 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


9 


careful in the days of the now in order to 
lay up plenty for “ The rainy day;” if in 
order to have material gain, social position 
and worldly power, riches, name and 
fame are sought to leave to posterity, there 
is nothing that is worth while gained and 
all is a futile effort to perpetuate the 
memory of a dead past. There cannot be 
assurance of life beyond the grave from 
an egotistic body. 

Jesus said: “ The morrow shall take 
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient 
unto the day is the evil thereof.” He 
wanted no fear or worry concerning future 
needs. He prayed :—“ Give us this day 
our daily bread.” He wanted Heaven 
to be here and now, a daily vital experi¬ 
ence, wherein the Heavenly Father’s will 
should be supreme; wherein man should 
meet the short comings of his fellow man 
with forgiving tolerance. Jesus wanted 
each life to be a prayer, the spirit of which 
should be: “ Forgive us our debts as we 
forgive our debtors ” and “ Thy will be 
done in earth as it is in Heaven.” 

Prayer is the unspoken word of the 


10 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


soul’s desire. The spoken prayers are as 
empty as sounding brass and tinkling 
cymbals. No wonder that those offering 
them grope in the darkness of doubt and 
have but faint hope. There was not a 
prayer of Christ’s or of His disciples but 
that had the efficacy of direct answer. 
Their prayers were pure, selfless and lum¬ 
inous with realization of truth and replete 
with consciousness of God. 

To be in the current of a mighty power 
that sweeps, onward and onward, to a 
perfect peace, is to come close to the 
Kingdom. This consciousness, together 
with that other vital factor expressed in 
“ Thy will not mine be done ”—brings 
life into the very center of this mighty 
stream. If to these, be added purity of 
heart; then is attained the sacred privilege 
of seeing God. After the possession of 
these three cardinal principles is attained: 
Consciousness of spiritual force; Joyous 
co-operation with Divine will and purity 
of heart; bringing the soul into the pres¬ 
ence of God; it will no longer be possible 
to hold to cant, creed and dogma. There 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


11 


can be no bowing the head before an 
empty altar or to a God unknown. No 
longer will the lips pray: “ God grant me 
this.” Before the inner altar of the living 
God, the true Christ follower prays, from 
the heart:—“ Father, let me do Thy will 
to all men.” 

Christ’s will was that loving kindness 
should be the ruling principle of each life. 
“ Love ye one another as I have loved 
you.” The Master said that all desiring 
to know God must learn obedience to 
God’s will, obedience to the law of all 
inclusive love, even as He had. It is not 
possible to keep the commandments with¬ 
out love. Love with all the heart, with all 
the soul, with all the mind and with all 
the strength—all the time. This is the 
transcendent law of love that must be put 
to the test by loving the neighbor as the 
self. 

Love is the single mind:—life’s won¬ 
drous sunlight, giving warmer impulses, 
purer thought and infinite power. Love 
is the principle that gives understanding 
beyond that of the body. It is of the in- 


12 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


dwelling spirit, that doeth the works of 
God. Love is the current that turns the 
leper into the man made whole. Love 
reveals the light of day to eyes that were 
sightless. 

O, that mighty manifested force of love 
who said: “ Let him who is without sin 
cast the first stone;” wondrous Light, who 
sought to make the way to Heaven clear; 
Divine Councillor, who bade mankind put 
all frailties, all selfishness, all desires of 
the senses upon the altar; until the purified 
life should irradiate love, even to the least 
of God’s children! 

Jesus taught the simple laws of truth 
to all who would follow. He taught as a 
man, going up and down the hills and 
valleys of Judea. He taught by precept 
and example—by speaking the word of 
truth and living the life of love and service 
—He taught the laws of life through and 
by prayer. He went “ a stone’s throw 
away ” from all others, to commune with 
God; when, with face pressed close to the 
earth. He sought only the Father’s will. 

It was after such a prayer that Jesus 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


13 


preached the Sermon on the Mount. In 
this most wonderful sermon of all ages, 
was: “ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The 
second statement is: “Blessed are they 
that mourn: for they shall be comforted;” 
The third is: “ Blessed are they that do 
hunger and thirst after righteousness* sake: 
for they shall be filled.” Then follows 
the others: the blessing of the merciful, 
the pure, the peacemakers, those perse¬ 
cuted for righteousness’ sake and those 
reviled. O, the one making those beati¬ 
tudes—the “ Blesseds ”—a part of life 
shall indeed be blessed; for by their peace 
shall every contentious heart throb be 
stilled. If humanity would but put the 
truth of these teachings to the test of ex¬ 
perience, there would be no wars nor 
rumors of wars. Neither would there be 
doubting of truth and quibbling about the 
laws of God. Those having made the 
test are not heard to say that they believe 
in the kingdom of Heaven. Such a state¬ 
ment from them would be as absurd as for 
the mathematician to say that he believed 


14 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


two plus two equals four. The kingdom 
of Heaven is at hand to all who have these 
principles in the heart and who earnestly 
desire to know God. 

Thus Jesus of Nazareth showed the 
way to eternal life. He gave the theorems 
of spritual mathematics, by which life’s 
problems may be solved and the way to 
truth found. Whether these theorems 
shall be put to the test of experience, or 
not, rests with the individual; but no one 
failing to put them to this test can be a 
Christian, nor attain a master mind. True, 
a man can be a worker of metal or a 
hewer of wood; he can earn his bread by 
the sweat of his brow; but if he wants to 
be in the forefront of accomplishment, he 
must train the body and mind according 
to the purpose in view. Similarly, whoso¬ 
ever would know God must train the body 
and mind until it is vibrant to the touch of 
God. 

After Jesus gave the Sermon on the 
Mount, He brought the same wonderful 
exposition of truth, down into the valley 
and gave it freely to those dwelling there. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


15 


By His life, this great Master showed the 
law of love to both high and low—to the 
outcast in like measure as to the exalted. 

Disciple means one who is willing to 
follow. In His ministry, Jesus, first had 
two disciples; later seventy; and still later, 
more than five thousand, out of which He 
selected twelve Apostles. Yet, after two 
years of close association with this mighty 
Master mind; when the great test came, 
and the poisoned darts of scorn and ridi¬ 
cule were hurled against Him, when con¬ 
fronted with the carping criticism of the 
Pharisees, a multitude turned away from 
this Lord of love and life. These men 
and women who had made a covenant to 
write “ Master ” over the contentious 
body, turned away. Then was the great 
declaration understandable:—“Strait is 
the gate and narrow is the way which 
leadeth unto life; and few there be that 
find it.” 

It was at almost the end of His min¬ 
istry that He questioned His disciples, 
saying: “Whom do man say that I, the 
son of man, am?” Various answers were 


16 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


given. “ And they said: Some say that 
thou art John the Baptist: some Elias; and 
others, Jeremias or one of the prophets.” 
But when the Master replied: “ Whom 

say ye that I am?” a direct question to 
those who were His close followers, it was 
Peter who vouched for the twelve, saying: 
“ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God.” “ And Jesus answered and 
said unto him. Blessed art thou, Simon 
Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not re¬ 
vealed it unto thee, but thy Father which 
is in Heaven.” 

It is a wondrous time in the life of man 
when, with deep conviction it can be said: 
“ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the liv¬ 
ing God.” It is not so much a realization 
as an ecstasy of divine life, bubbling up 
from within—the thanksgiving of the soul, 
saying “ I have fought and struggled until 
the physical self is at last conquered. Now 
I know the truth,—“ The Father is in me 
and I in the Father.” 

Jesus asked His disciples, “ Know ye 
not that the Father is in Me and I in 
Him?” Then He said: “ The Kingdom 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


17 


of heaven cometh not with observation; 
neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo 
there! for, behold the kingdom of God is 
within you.” Of a certainty, the King¬ 
dom of God is within all; but how can it 
be known, how become a state of con¬ 
sciousness? This can be, only by the 
mastering of the body, as Jesus did, mak¬ 
ing it servant to God’s will and obedient 
to the Master’s call. 

One sign which must surely follow the 
Christian is the power of healing, yet this 
is the very least part of the Christ religion. 
To be able to heal is not enough. Neither 
it is enough to be healed. Let this fact 
be heeded—it is mentioned only for the 
purpose of showing the way:—out of the 
ten lepers whom Jesus healed, only one 
returned to glorify God and give thanks. 
Unto this one, Jesus said: “Thy faith 
hath made thee whole.” The real 
principle, the very heart of the Christ re¬ 
ligion is the attainment of that conscious¬ 
ness which makes it possible to unhesi¬ 
tatingly answer, as did Peter:—“Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 


18 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


The real thing then is the knowledge, be¬ 
yond all doubt or question, that the power 
of God is present to heal the infirmities of 
all. 

There are many, eager to be healed for 
selfish personal benefit or to gratify idle 
curiosity; but pitifully few who desire to 
do the will of God. Alike unto the ten 
lepers: out of thousands who are healed, 
only here and there stands one appreciative 
and just enough to return thanks. Yet, 
this is not strange. The reason for such 
cowardice and ingratitude is not difficult 
to discover. It lies in the fact that the 
great majority live wholly in the interests 
of the body life. During some time of 
stress, when the body is in the throes of 
deadly disease, the whole physical being 
racked and tortured with suffering; then 
comes a desire to be in touch with one 
representing God’s kingdom. Then, hav¬ 
ing temporarily felt the God power and 
having been healed, they return to the 
former ways of life and—forget. Still, 
the Master’s work goes on. 

When Jesus went to Nazareth, He was 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


19 


rejected by those who knew His family. 
He went again and was rejected. Still 
again. He returned, only to meet the 
same rebuff. It was then that He said: 
“ A prophet is not without honor, but in 
his own country, and among his own kin, 
and in his own house.’* He spoke of un¬ 
belief in His condemnation of Chorazin 
and Bethsadia—using the expression: 
“ The mighty works which were done in 
you.” He spoke of prayer as a living 
force, saying: “ Let not your right hand 
know what your left hand doeth,” exem¬ 
plifying this by a love and service that 
has since been the marvel of the world. 

He spoke of money as a means to 
growth and as a protection to old age in, 
“Take no thought for the morrow;” as 
a hindering modification to the works of 
Godliness in the words, “ Go sell what 
thou hast and give it to the poor,”—then 
in condemnation, when money had as¬ 
sumed a usurous place in the minds of 
men, He said, “ My house shall be called 
a house of prayer, but ye have made it a 
den of thieves.” 


20 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


It was by the very power of these won¬ 
derful gifts, in which the light of eternity 
reflected upon the acts and problems of 
men; that later, mighty works followed in 
the wake of the man of Nazareth, who 
had grown from man unto God. 

Thus the feeding of the multitude, the 
miraculous catch of fish, and the raising of 
Lazarus, showed a growth, in which the 
“ Every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God,” becomes a mighty force in 
the hands of one who had traveled the 
road from human to God consciousness. 

The phenomena of these miracles need 
not bother. Suffice it to know, the power 
there displayed of appeasing hunger, and 
of correlating supply:—and even to the 
raising of the dead are all problems that 
came directly under soul powers; and 
while not understood by the world at 
large, are nevertheless susceptible of 
scientific demonstration under the laws 
governing psychic phenomena. Add to 
this God knowledge, and all things are 
possible. 

These mighty works of healing some- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


21 


times dumbfounded the disciples. So they 
asked why “ They could not do like¬ 
wise?” He answered, “ Because of your 
unbelief.” He said in reply as to the way 
He cast out a “ Deaf and dumb spirit,” 
“ This kind can come forth by nothing, 
but by prayer and fasting.” 

Another time He sent His disciples 
away from the multitude, in a ship and 
then persuaded the multitude to disperse, 
and “He went up into the mountain 
apart to pray.” While the ship was in 
mid sea a storm arose, for the wind was 
contrary. Then it was that the Master 
was seen walking upon the waters. Then 
Peter having been invited to come to his 
Master, walked upon the waters, also; but 
seeing what he was doing straightway 
began to sink. When after saving Peter: 
Jesus said, “ O thou of little faith, where¬ 
fore didst thou doubt?” Thus by ex¬ 
ample and precept, was another potent 
power added to those already given, as 
real assets in His life work. 

If the body possesses this power of great 
accomplishment as shown by Peter and 


22 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


exercises it under strong impulse and free¬ 
dom from fear or when excitement is at a 
high pitch; then how infinitely greater 
should be the possibilities of the body, 
when trained and controlled, like that of 
the Master. 

Peter had not yet worked out the prob¬ 
lem of faith. Faith is not blind belief, or 
an acceptance of the word of God; nor 
is it belief which, while admitting a lack 
of qualification, to look God in the face, 
demands an adherence to that form of 
worship generally accepted. Faith of this 
kind leads to nothing and gives the dis¬ 
ciple as little chance to enter Heaven as 
has the Camel to go through the needle’s 
eye. Faith is far removed from belief. 
“ I believe” is the gossip’s slogan. The 
life must go beyond belief, into love and 
service, when the real basis of this won¬ 
drous thing is found. 

Prayers are often heard pertaining to 
food, shelter and raiment. In the parson¬ 
age and in the home of the leader of the 
church, how scrupulously is the “ bless¬ 
ing ” of food observed! “O Lord, for 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


23 


what we are about to receive, make us 
truly thankful. For Christ’s sake. Amen.” 
Such petitions are chaff, for there is noth¬ 
ing in this that leads to the principle of 
prayer, which is of love and service to all 
humanity. 

Thus is given a wonderful series of 
laws, the fulfilling of which will cleanse 
life from doubt, fear and damnation, giv¬ 
ing power to “ Heal the sick, cleanse the 
lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils.” 
The man of Nazareth is in this way 
changed into the Christ, Son of the living 
God, who gives love to all alike, the high 
and low, rich and poor, wherein there are 
no demarking lines in the Brotherhood of 
man:—for “Freely ye have received, 
freely give.” 

Then comes the time of the last supper, 
where He admonished His disciples to 
“ Love ye one another even as I have 
loved you,” following which He gave a 
clear conception of His betrayal and 
death. It is here the test was given to 
stability in the work of the Master, for 
He stated that one of His disciples was to 


24 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


betray Him by a kiss, which was later 
attempted by Judas. Then Christ said, 
“ Judas, betrayest thou the son of man 
with a kiss?” Even a kiss, sacred to 
affection and the bond of love, can be 
turned into ignoble use. The Judas kiss 
of the vain-glorious, the deceitful and the 
evil inclined is a damnable token of be¬ 
trayal. Even as Jadas betrayed Christ 
so is affection betrayed by the deceitful 
smirk of unabated desire. There is indeed 
need of “ Love ye one another ” wherein 
there cannot be betrayal. 

Yet in the very betrayal and crucifixion 
there is that which teaches the supreme 
lesson of the man of Nazareth. A thief, 
condemned and ridiculed, another of the 
same class, asked for forgiveness. To the 
first as to all of that class He said, “ For¬ 
give them Father, they know not what 
they do,” and to the latter He promised, 
“ Today shall thou be with Me in para¬ 
dise.” Thus was written by renunciation 
and realization upon the brow of the 
thief,—“ Master,” that all who are in 
sin may know the way to God; and thus, 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


25 


too, was written forgiveness to the erring, 
doubtful transgressor, for he “ knew not 
what he did.** 

Then follows the resurrection in which 
He appeared unto Mary, the mother of 
James and Mary Magdalene. Then fol¬ 
lowed other appearances after death and 
at last His appearance before the disciples, 
giving to them the signs by which disciples 
shall be known: “ In My name, shall 
they cast out devils; they shall speak with 
new tongues; they shall take up serpents, 
and if they drink any deadly thing, it 
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands 
on the sick and they shall recover/* These 
are the signs of the Christian—the only 
signs. How many, O God, show these 
signs? 


Chapter II. 


DISCIPLESHIP. 

W HEN Christ sent disciples forth to 
preach the kingdom of God and to 
heal the sick, He gave the directions found 
in the 3rd, 4th and 3th verses of the 9th 
chapter of Luke:—“Take nothing for 
your journey, neither staves nor script, 
neither bread, neither money; neither have 
two coats apiece. And whatsoever house 
ye enter into, there abide, and thence de¬ 
part. And whosoever will not receive 
you, when ye go out of that city, shake 
off the very dust from your feet, for a 
testimony against them.” 

In the 1 Oth chapter of Luke, the 19th 
and 20th verses, is this saying:—“ Be¬ 
hold, I give unto you power to tread on 
serpents and scorpions, and over all the 
power of the enemy: and nothing shall by 
any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in 


26 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


27 


this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject 
unto you, but rather rejoice, because your 
names are written in heaven.” 

In St. John, the 14th chapter, from the 
8th verse to the 16th, are the words of the 
Master in answer to Philip who “ Saith 
unto him. Lord, shew us the Father, and 
it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him. Have 
I been so long time with you, and yet hast 
thou not known me, Philip? He that 
hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and 
how sayest thou then. Shew us the Father? 
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, 
and the Father in me? The words that 
I speak unto you I speak not of myself; 
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he 
doeth the works. Believe me that I am in 
the Father, and the Father in me: or else 
believe me for the very work’s sake. Verily, 
verily, I say unto you. He that believeth 
on me, the works that I do shall he do 
also; and greater works than these shall 
he do; because I go unto my Father. And 
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that 
will I do, that the Father may be glorified 
in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in 


28 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep 
my commandments.” 

The very first thing a disciple has to 
learn is how to pray. Prayer is not an 
empty jingle of words but a wonderful 
means to service by a process of love 
growth. Thus the open prayer, full of 
words and rounded sentences does not 
lead to God. Indeed it is this prayer that 
is condemned, and in its stead is the com¬ 
mand given to “ Pray without ceasing.” 
Surely this does not mean words, but an 
adjustment of the body, wherein “ going 
into your closet ” is going within the self 
and there laying all upon the altar that 
there may ensue that harmony that is a 
part of the relation of God to men. 

Thus Christ went ” A stone’s throw 
away from His followers.” Alone and in 
silence He invoked Divine guidance. 
They knew this and realized that it was 
necessary to have all the equipment of a 
master before God’s work could be ac¬ 
complished. So, through Philip, the dis¬ 
ciples sought the Christ-way of prayer. 

In like manner, does the disciple of to- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


29 


day want to know how to pray—not the 
wordy, hypocritical prayer of the Phari¬ 
see, but one bringing the self in touch 
with real power—and to the kingdom of 
God. 

All have heard the unavailing prayer 
of “ Much speaking”—all have listened 
to those, supposedly of authority, asking 
for all manner of worldly things; and 
know them to have gained nothing there¬ 
by. The law of prayer is unchanging, 
the same today that was back yonder, 
when the Master taught it to His disciples: 
—Ask “ In My name.” To ask in the 
name of Divinity is a vastly different prop¬ 
osition from the egotistic prayer, vain¬ 
glorious and seeking gratification of am¬ 
bition and physical desires. Let prayer 
be offered, by living the life, by giving 
the best efforts to any in need, and by the 
knowledge and use of certain dynamic 
principles—principles wonderful in sim¬ 
plicity and infinite in force, based upon 
powerful, all-commanding love. “ These 
things, I command you, that ye love one 
another.” 


30 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


In two commandments, is given all the 
law of the prophets:—“And thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
and with all thy soul and with all thy mind 
and with all thy strength;*’ this is the first 
commandment. The second is even 
greater:—“ Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thy self.’* There is no commandment 
greater than these. To have love in the 
heart for all the world of men, and a feel¬ 
ing of fellowship that touches the garment 
of the broken and defiled with eager desire 
to serve, and the innate goodness that sees 
no sullying thing; is to begin to know the 
rules of love—not the love that holds fast, 
with the grip of physical desire, but divine 
love, that yearns to comfort and strengthen 
all—even the least. 

Christ said that those who would not 
leave father and mother to follow Him 
were not worthy of Him. He taught to 
have the God power, the life must be freed 
from all iniquity, injustice, hate, envy and 
malice. “ By this shall all men know that 
ye are My disciples, if ye love one an¬ 
other.*’ 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


31 


A disciple is a follower. He follows 
that which, to him, means all life. Love 
is the law. It is the one great wonderful, 
potent force that will make the physical 
being acceptable to God. Whosoever 
would be a disciple, must follow love. 
The Master said that all who loved Him 
would keep His commandment:—“ Love 
ye one another as I have loved you.” 

To love the life of discipleship is to un¬ 
derstand that temptation, sorrow, suffering, 
and all things belonging to the body life 
are carnal and not of the law of God. To 
be qualified to do God’s will, the self 
must be put in the same state of love that 
was the Master’s. The closet of prayer 
must be entered and, there, the body must 
be freed from all iniquitous desires and 
purified until it can come forth to look 
upon all the world without a throb of con¬ 
tention and without a desire to criticise. 
The life must be washed clean from hate, 
fear, doubt, and judging. There may 
exist no feeling that could lead to the 
harming of another. No enmity, avarice, 
greed, or envy may lurk in the heart. Let 


32 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


him who would become a disciple lay all 
these upon the altar and go away until 
the earthly habitation and its carnal master 
have ceased to be in control. Then the 
physical being becomes changed into a di¬ 
vine expression of the Father. 

If the disciple must pray in public, pray: 
—After this manner:—“Our Father 
which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 
done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us 
this day our daily bread, and forgive us 
our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And 
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and 
the power, and the glory, for ever. 
Amen.” 

Be it known, that the body is of few 
years and full of trouble. Experience 
teaches that the pleasures of the earthly 
life are but momentary effects, and sor¬ 
rows are like the passing of dark shadows. 
The carnal life is full of shadows; the 
physical existence, full of fleeting sensa¬ 
tions. Not a joy but that is a thing of the 
past almost before its culmination; while 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


33 


the keenness of sorrow’s sting or the 
ecstasy of joy, both fade into a forgotten 
experience of yesterday! 

The child thinks of the joy that will 
be his when manhood is reached; but 
when that time comes, it brings with it 
intensity of desire for other things. The hot 
fires of lust call; self demands gratifica¬ 
tion ; and ambition spurs. The cry of the 
life is:—“ I want competence.” At last, 
competence is attained, but in attending 
it, come pain, sorrow, and unsatisfied de¬ 
sire; and the realization of the uselessness 
of it all. Thus it is that the physical life 
is a tortnent and damnation. None can 
look upon the tempestuous earth life, in 
any of its seven ages, and say there is in 
it a single joy that lasts after death withers 
the body and the grave opens to receive it. 
Not so, when battle with the physical has 
been well fought. Not so, when man, 
realizing that carnal life is not worth 
while, goes into the closet alone and, be¬ 
hind its closed door, seeks out the life 
eternal. There, must the covenant be 


34 Jesus of Nazareth. 

made between the body and the eternal 
Presence. 

Those who think that God is way out 
yonder—and their number is great—have 
need of listening to the Master’s words 
when questioning Philip:—Do you not 
yet know Me, or yet understand that He 
who has seen Me has seen the Father? 
Do you not know that of Myself I can do 
nothing? “ The Father that dwelleth in 
Me, He doeth the works.” Be it known, 
that the God principle must be a posses¬ 
sion, before any conception of Divinity is 
possible. 

Of what use is the bending of the knee 
in idle worship, for creed and dogma but 
close the door leading to the God pres¬ 
ence. Of what avail are words, when 
they shut off mental conception of the life 
that manifests in works? “ How can I 
know God by experience? Have I come 
into the Divine presence? Have my 
prayers been answered?” These are the 
questions, pertinent to discipleship. God 
knows, Divine presence has not been ex¬ 
perienced, nor prayers answered as long 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


35 


as those prayers have been wordy expres¬ 
sions, offered to a God afar off. The im¬ 
portant thing to realize is that God is all- 
powerful, all wise, and omnipresent; that 
His presence becomes a part of man’s con¬ 
sciousness, only when the body has been 
made amenable to it—a servant of God. 
Ten thousand times ten thousand bow the 
head and bend the knee in worship, idle 
and vain as that of idolaters of old; while, 
all the time, the spring of eternal life is 
seeking an avenue of expression through 
the human form. 

How can realization of the Divine 
Presence be gained? It can be gained by 
cleansing the mind from all those tortur¬ 
ous things that hold the body to earth life. 
If the tendency is to spend the time in talk¬ 
ing about the neighbor, instead of making 
the controlling impulses clean; then the 
door to God’s kingdom is being held 
closed. To hold fear is to go away from 
God; for fear is only the trembling ten¬ 
dency of a life gone wrong. To hate, is 
to shut out knowledge of Cxod; for “ God 
is love.” O, it means the crucifixion of all 


36 Jesus of Nazareth . 

evil, egotistic desires! That one who, 
strong in will, is seeking the Divine, shall 
put the physical frailties into the purifying 
fire—even as the tree that was barren of 
fruit—and burn them until they no longer 
torture the flesh. There is need of being 
free born and of good repute and this can¬ 
not be, while life is encumbered with un¬ 
controlled tendencies. 

No special dispensation is needed to the 
Heavenly Kingdom. In prayer and medi¬ 
tation, let the directness of Christ’s words 
be remembered:—“ Blessed are the poor 
in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven.” The Master ever enjoined hu¬ 
mility. It is the greatest boon ever given to 
mankind. Jesus, Himself, was spoken of 
as “ The lowly one,” because He found 
as much joy in giving love to the sinner 
and service to the Publican, as He did in 
consorting with those of high degree. He 
experienced as much joy in cleansing the 
poor woman at the well as in the most 
sacred converse with His apostles. He 
was as tender in His admonition of the 
fallen woman as He was in giving com- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


37 


mands to His beloved disciples. Jesus 
knew, that all must be bound together by 
sacred bonds of love, wherein caste, creed, 
color and sect exist not and wherein, no 
hypocrisy disturbs. There is, then, no 
special dispensation, nor vicarious atone¬ 
ment. Neither is there a special road for 
any. All must cleanse life of everything 
that holds back from divine understanding 
—God knowledge. All must become “ as 
little children.” To be humble, is to be 
meek. These are the teachings of Christ 
and let this fact be marked well:—in tell¬ 
ing His disciples these things, Jesus was 
showing them the way to eternal life. 

He who would become a part of the 
great, throbbing principle that leads to the 
realm divine, must indeed be meek; for 
meekness leads to purity and to the pure 
in heart is given the blessed privilege of 
seeing God. “ Blessed are the pure in 
heart: for they shall see God.” This 
promise is not one to be fulfilled after the 
physical life is over and the grave has 
claimed its own; but its fulfilment is, even 


now. 


38 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


There should be no contentment in be¬ 
lief. Rather, should there be ceaseless 
seeking for facts—for the two plus two of 
(spiritual) arithmetic, that shall change 
self from the recumbency of physical exist¬ 
ence to the upright state of manifested 
Divinity. To this end, let the heart be 
pure and the self free from cant and hy¬ 
pocrisy. In creed and form, is found 
nothing of worth to God expression. 

The pure in heart are living in the king¬ 
dom of Heaven and the Father is using 
their bodies as vehicles of expression. The 
pure give light to those in darkness, 
strength to the weak, peace to the sorrow¬ 
laden, and sight to the blind. Purity 
makes whole, the broken limbs; straightens 
life’s crooked places; and gives power to 
speak “ The Word ”—that Word which 
will cleanse the body from all disease. 

Purity of heart cannot be attained, until 
the test of fire can be endured—the fire of 
despiteful usage and persecution. Not 
until derisive word and defaming lie di¬ 
rected against the life can be endured with¬ 
out a word of self defense, is the heart 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


39 


pure. Moreover, love must be given to 
those who vilify and condemn. Courage 
to “ Turn the other cheek ” to the conten¬ 
tious must be attained. In this way, is ex¬ 
emplified that law given by the Master to 
His disciples, as the most powerful of all 
—the only one that will bring the body to 
the state of God knowledge. Stilled, must 
be the impulse to say that this one is un¬ 
worthy, or that one speaks untruthfully. 
The fangs of the serpent dragging at the 
personal life, must be drawn. Desire to 
say that this is not so, or that is not good, 
must cease. No word may be spoken of 
those who are despiteful and to this end, 
the lesson of silence must be learned. The 
disciple must be silent concerning those 
who hurt him—or rather, who hurt the 
feelings of his personal, egotistic self. The 
higher nature cannot be hurt. 

How can all these requirements be ful¬ 
filled? They can be fulfilled by following 
this rule, simple as it is wonderful:—if the 
word that carries love and that builds can¬ 
not be spoken, speak not at all; if the word 
cannot be spoken, that will help others to 


40 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


see something beside the “ Worm-wood 
and gall ” of existence, be silent. This 
does not mean that venomous aspersion 
and stinging word are unnoticed, but that 
the self has passed beyond that state 
where in it can be affected by them—the 
state in which such things are soon forgot¬ 
ten, because it has not been a part of life 
to speak of them. The down tearing word 
that would destroy life and render it inert 
is forgotten, when this law, of love and 
silence rules the life. 

It is said that many of the 
world’s calamities are caused by the vin¬ 
dictive word of some one person. This 
dynasty of Rameses went down by the 
revengefulness of his wife’s daughter. 
Solomon’s temple fell through the malice 
of two workmen. The Ganges dynasty 
is said to have been destroyed because two 
disciples forgot to love each other. In 
Christ’s time, is the picture of Judas for¬ 
getting the need of a silent tongue, even 
when the Master’s life was in jeopardy. 
The reign of terror swept over France be¬ 
cause of vindictiveness and the same cruel 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


41 


passion caused the dark time in old Ire¬ 
land. Nations are, even now, being dis¬ 
rupted because the lesson of silence has 
not been learned. If it must be, let vindic¬ 
tiveness and the lack of silence tear down 
and destroy nations; but man should not 
let these evils destroy the soul and cast him 
outside the kingdom of God. 

Silence is the way. It is the means by 
which to overcome the sway of the phys-* 
ical. This does not mean absence of 
speech; but it dots mean that not a single 
destructive, cutting word shall be allowed 
to escape the lips. It means that the 
tongue shall be so controlled that it can 
give utterance to no word that could hurt 
any living creature. 

Christ’s great laws apply today, as truly 
and forcefully as they did when given to 
the disciples. “ Love your enemies, do 
good to them which hate you, bless them 
that curse you, and pray for them which 
despitefully use you. And unto him that 
smiteth thee on one cheek offer also the 
other.” Thus is learned, the lesson of 
meeting evil with good—of meeting spite- 


42 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


ful usage with service. Desire to strike 
back is overcome by desire to know God 
and to become a part of infinite life. 

The way to the culmination of this great 
lesson is by loving and by putting love into 
actual service to all—the same love and 
the same service to the least, as to the 
greatest. Let the highways and byways 
be searched, that all who seek the way 
home may feel the gentle guiding touch 
of sympathy. Remember:—“ They that 
are whole have no need of a physician, but 
they that are sick: I came not to call the 
righteous, but the sinners to repentance.’’ 
The Master came to save those who do not 
know the simple law of life. What is 
this law? It is to constantly make mani¬ 
fest, the God that dwells within. That 
individual in whom every physical ten¬ 
dency is controlled by God need have no 
anxiety concerning bodily life. 

The great test of discipleship—the test 
of true faith and devotion—lay in Christ’s 
directions to His disciples, when He sent 
them forth to minister; telling them not to 
burden themselves with extra apparel, or 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


43 


anything else, but to go their way with no 
thought save that of preaching the king¬ 
dom:—“Go your ways: behold, I send 
you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry 
neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and 
salute no man by the way. And into what¬ 
soever house ye enter, first say. Peace be 
to this house. And if the Son of Peace be 
there, your Peace shall rest upon it; if 
not it shall return to you again. And in 
the same house remain, eating and drink¬ 
ing such things as they give: for the laborer 
is worthy of his hire.—“ Heal the sick— 
and say unto them, “The kingdom of God 
is come nigh unto you.” 

To say “ Peace ” is not enough. The 
word, in itself, counts for nothing. Let 
“ Peace ” be said, aye repeatedly, but 
back of the word, let there be intense de¬ 
sire to give the life’s best in loving service. 
The Peace that Christ meant, whether 
uttered or unexpressed, is a vibrant force 
that gives blessing to the house wherein the 
disciple is sheltered and points the way to 
love, hope, and purity of life; so that all 
within the home are made better by his 


44 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


coining. This is the peace that gives 
Christ power—peace so transcendent that 
it removes fear, doubt, and dread from the 
heart and replaces them with love, con¬ 
fidence, and strength. 

Thus, is the work commanded by the 
Master made plain and the path of dis- 
cipleship made clear. One who, while 
desiring to tread the path and do the work, 
cannot yet meet the Christ—given re¬ 
quirements; must enter the solitude of his 
own, inner nature and, through renuncia¬ 
tion, cleanse and master the physical self, 
until prepared and qualified to ask only 
in the name of Christ. “ And whatsoever 
ye ask in My name, that will I do that the 
Father may be glorified in the Son ”— 
“ If ye ask anything in My name, I will 
do it ”—“ I am in the Father and the 
Father in Me.” Let the disciple lay fast 
hold upon the meaning of these mighty 
words and learn, well, their lesson; that 
all things, truly asked in the name of the 
Christ, shall be granted. Then shall come 
the peace that is a dynamic, infinite force. 
When the bitter dregs of misunderstand- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


45 


ing, doubt and ignorance are found in the 
home, indeed and fact can it be said:— 
“ My peace I give unto you.” Through 
the giving of such peace is harmony re¬ 
stored and broken lives are made glad and 
whole. If the “ Son of Peace ” dwells 
not there and the rich boon is refused, 
then must the disciple let his peace return 
to him; but first let him say to those, blind 
and erring:—“ The kingdom of heaven is 
near ”—not heaven out yonder, beyond 
the grave; but heaven at hand in this life, 
and now. “ The kingdom of heaven is 
within you ”—" The Father that dwelleth 
within Me, He doeth the works.” These 
are simple statements that all can grasp. 

“ The kingdom of heaven is within you ” 
—“ The Father that dwelleth within Me, 
He doeth the works.” These are simple 
statements that all can grasp. 

Let him who would find God, under¬ 
stand this truth and make it a part of him: 
—the only way of qualifying for disciple- 
ship is by learning to love and serve (“ In 
My name.”) This means to kill out 
hypocrisy, to be single-minded and true. 


46 Jesus of Nazareth. 

and to realize that prayer is not of words, 
but deeds—acts of loving service. It is 
better, far, to have power to express “ God 
bless you ” through sincere kindness and 
love, than to have all the acclaim and rare 
jewels that the world can bestow upon its 
high potentates. 

Christ gave His disciples power “To 
tread upon serpents and scorpions,” un¬ 
harmed and gave them power “ Over all 
the power of the enemy.” “ And these 
signs shall follow them that believe: In 
My name shall they cast out devils; they 
shall speak with new tongues; they shall 
take up serpents; and if they drink any 
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they 
shall lay hands upon the sick and they 
shall recover.” These truths are read and 
preached of in the churches, as wonders 
belonging to the “ Days of miracles!” 
When is the day of miracles? In very 
truth, miracles, so called, belong to any 
day in which God’s power is manifested. 
When God is expressed in these ways, the 
disciple does not do the works as a man; 
but as an eternal presence, which manifests 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


47 


through him and makes him a part of 
God. Christ told His disciples to heal the 
sick, cast out devils, and preach the king¬ 
dom of God, not as men—but in His 
name. “ And whatsoever thou shalt bind 
on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and 
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall 
be loosed in heaven.” Complete and 
wonderful, simple, and direct are the 
teachings for the disciple: “ And no man, 
having put his hand to the plow and look¬ 
ing back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

The great central theme of Christ’s 
teachings was love: unswerving love for 
the Heavenly Father and sincere love for 
one another. It is a strange—aye, a mon¬ 
strous thing—that those seeking the same 
God should war with and despise each 
other, one thinking himself to have a little 
more power, a little more ability to serve 
in the Master’s Cause, than another. Yet, 
each is seeking a part of the self-same 
love principle. Verily, it is not possession 
of power to cast out devils or heal the sick 
that should be the disciple’s pride. 


48 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


“ Rather rejoice because your names are 
written in heaven.” 

Sometime, the body will be laid in the 
grave and return to dust, from whence it 
came. Every individual is going the same 
way. Each life must reach the same con¬ 
clusion. All petty things of the egotistic 
self, concerning which disciples war with 
one another, must follow the body in its 
dissolution; but within the earthly being, 
is eternal spirit, immutable life, that has 
all power;—and its name is “written in 
Heaven,” for it is of love. 

The shining way of discipleship lies 
through prayer and purity to truth, for to 
pray, is to be humble; to be humble, is to 
be meek; to be meek, is to be pure; and to 
be pure, is to know God. “ Blessed are 
the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven.” “ Blessed are the meek: for 
they shall inherit the earth.” “ Blessed 
are the pure in heart: for they shall see 


Chapter III. 


MATTHEW. 


HE text is taken from the 2nd chapter 



* of Mark, beginning with the 5th verse 
and continuing to the 17th. A little 
farther in this same chapter, in answer to 
the question, “ Why do the disciples of 
John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy 
disciples fast not?” the Master gave the 
picture of the bride-chamber in which He 
said that there was no need for them to 
fast while the bridegroom was with them. 
Still farther on in the chapter Christ tells 
about the uselessness of sewing new cloth 
on an old garment, or putting new wine 
into old bottles. Attention is directed to 
all this for the purpose of telling why 
Levi, while sitting at the receipt of cus¬ 
toms, was called by the Master to follow 
Him. 

When the scribes were reasoning about 
the words of Christ, when He healed the 


49 


50 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


one sick of palsy. He answered them in a 
peculiar manner: “Why reason ye these 
things in your hearts? Whether it is 
easier to say to the sick of the palsy, * Thy 
sins be forgiven thee,’ or to say * Arise 
and take up thy bed, and walk?’ But 
that ye may know that the Son of man 
hath power on earth to forgive sins.*’ 

It is readily seen that those preaching 
today, like the Scribes and Pharisees of 
old, think more of the words than they do 
of the work. They had rather quibble 
over a word, its derivation, its affix and 
suffix, than to get at the heart of its mean¬ 
ing. The heart of the thing, in this case, 
is to be free from palsy, from inertia, from 
cant and hypocrisy and to gain possession 
of a word so strong and vital it will raise 
the life from the dead level of physical life 
to soul consciousness. 

As Christ was teaching this truth by 
precept and example. He passed by the 
custom house in Capernaum and calling 
to Levi, the son of Alphaeus, said to him, 
“ Follow Me;’’ and Levi, who from that 
time was known as Matthew, immediately 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


51 


followed. Oh! how often has that “ Fol¬ 
low Me ” been given to the hungry soul 
who stopped to question, “ Where?” or 
“Why?” or, “ How?” instead of giving 
implicit obedience and following with the 
confidence of Matthew that will raise man 
from the physical plane to a receptive soul. 

Hear this call of the Master and under¬ 
stand the truth—no one has ever reached 
God’s kingdom by asking questions, no 
one has ever followed the path to mastery 
by argumentation, no one has ever entered 
into the realm of divine life except by 
giving implicit obedience to Christ’s com¬ 
mands. These commands can be known 
by readng the records given by Matthew: 
“ Blessed are the meek:” “ Blessed are 
the poor in spirit:” “Blessed are they 
which do hunger and thirst after righteous¬ 
ness:” “Blessed are the merciful:” 
“Blessed are the pure in heart:” “ Blessed 
are the peacemakers:” Blessed are those 
who follow, even blindly. Matthew fol¬ 
lowed blindly, perhaps, at first; but 
through the law of obedience he gained 


52 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


the power of mastery that made him a 
beacon light among men. 

Then follows the other portion of the 
picture where the Master and His dis¬ 
ciples sit at meat with publicans and sin¬ 
ners. The arbiters of society accused Him 
of being a consorter of the publicans and 
the sinners. To them the answer was 
given that rings down the ages to the 
Scribes and Pharisees of today, “ I came 
not to call the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance,” not to reach those who know 
the way to the life eternal but those who 
have turned away from the straight course, 
and are hemmed in by darkness, doubt, 
misconception and preconceived ideas. 

Look at the customs and dictates of 
society and the churches and see if these 
are centered upon the saving of sinners, 
or if their purpose is not that of separating 
the human family into sects, castes and 
cults. Why are pews rented and why is 
the question of clothes of such moment? 
The Master gives the answer—these 
things belong to the outside shadows of 
an Infinite principle. The laws of God 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


53 


are set aside in their zeal to teach the 
creeds, the rituals, the traditions of men. 
“ I am not come to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance,” those who hunger 
and thirst after righteousness. And Mat¬ 
thew was with Christ at the time this truth 
was given by the Master. 

The Pharisees then questioned why 
the disciples of Christ did not fast as did 
the Pharisees and the disciples of John. 
The answer was given that “ The bride¬ 
groom was in the chamber and the chil¬ 
dren of the bridechamber had no reason 
for fasting while He was with them to 
uphold them when they knew not the way 
and tell them what they had need of. 
But the time would come when Pie would 
not be in the chamber, when He would 
have laid down His body and gone from 
their midst. At such time there would 
be need for them to fast, this being a 
means of purifying the body. The ordi¬ 
nary way of man when he is sick in body 
is to go to a doctor for relief. A simple 
medicinal remedy may be prescribed, but 
the doctor will give him a system of die- 


54 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


tetics in order to free the body from hurt¬ 
ful effects. Likewise, to fast in order 
that there may be growth of the soul is to 
free the body from the clogging effects of 
impulse, tendency and desiie, making the 
body receptive to the law of God. Fast¬ 
ing is for the purpose of building the self 
into one-ness with the law of Infinite life. 
If hungry, there is no need to go without 
food, neither, if thirsty, is there any neces¬ 
sity to go without water; but understand, 
and mark this well, the necessity of living 
in exact accord with the law of God, the 
law of selfless love, is absolute. For the 
one who cannot give obedience to this law 
there must be the season of going into the 
wilderness of his own life and there re¬ 
maining until, by fasting, sacrifice and 
prayer, his thoughts and acts of life are 
made sacred to the service of every living 
creature and his body, having become 
amenable to the call of the Master, will 
do the Works of the Father which is in 
Heaven. Therefore it was the Master 
said that when He was not present to 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


55 


admonish and guide there would be neces¬ 
sity for fasting. 

Then Christ gave the picture of the 
futility of putting new cloth on an old 
garment. Every one through experience 
ought to know the reason, yet all ask, 
“ Why?” Old cloth is worn out and 
there is no similarity in its strength and 
that of the new cloth; therefore, unable 
to stand the strain of the new, the old 
breaks away and the rent is worse than it 
was before. 

To put new wine into old bottles is as 
vain, for the new wine has not the con¬ 
formity of the old bottles; neither have the 
latter the strength to withstand the strain 
of the season of fermentation through 
which the new wine must pass, therefore 
old bottles cannot hold new wine. It is 
just as impossible to put the new, vital 
religion of Christ, the one of action, into 
a body weakned by the malpractice of 
ages of inaction, man-made tradition, 
superstition, doubt, greed and fear. Do 
not listen to cant and hypocrisy, but find 
out the truth by following the only possible 


56 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


law to its experience—the law of induc¬ 
tion—and know the truth as a crystal 
power within the heart. This law of God 
is not found in “ Do’s ” and “ Don’ts,” 
not in quibbles and assertions, not in much 
speaking, but it is the vital force of love 
within the heart. 

Men of today speak of belief as did 
the Pharisees of old, and turn away from 
the very things that make belief a vita! 
factor of life and make their belief a 
negative condition. They glibly say, “ I 
believe in God the Father Almighty, 
maker of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus 
Christ His only son our Lord.” But 
though they say the Apostle’s creed until 
it is seared into their brain, they do not 
believe it. To them it is dead sea fruit, 
because of trying to put new wine into old 
bottles. The wine has broken them 
asunder and they do not believe. If they 
did believe that Christ was the only son 
of God, they would say, “ God made me 
in His image or likeness, therefore, I am 
a son of God; and as the Holy Ghost 
descended upon the Christ, the son of 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


57 


God, as it descended upon the Apostles 
and upon the Pharisees, the publicans and 
sinners, as it descended upon all who 
qualified themselves to receive it, so will it 
descend upon me, when I have made my 
life amenable to the will of my Father 
which is in heaven.” 

The cause of unbelief is in the persistent 
clinging to terms and giving no heed to 
their meaning. Nothing is hard to believe 
when the term is understood. Man is so 
prone to think of an Infinite force as a 
finite principle—a thing of length, breadth 
and thickness. The Holy Ghost is thought 
of as a dove, something of tangible form, 
descending upon the one designated as 
qualified to receive it, when, in truth, the 
Holy Ghost is a principle that is a con¬ 
tinuity of life, consciousness of which each 
one can have just as soon as he develops 
his body into a condition of receptivity 
to the Force of God. This condition is 
attained, not by argumentation, not by 
much speaking or giving compliance to the 
dictates of creed and dogma, but by lov¬ 
ing God with all the heart, with all the 


58 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


soul, with all the mind and strength and 
the neighbor as the self. 

Religion does not depend upon creed 
or false assumption. It is a great irradiat¬ 
ing power that takes possession of the 
individual who has made his body a 
worthy and fit receptacle for it. It is the 
covenant between the body and the life 
that is of God. Its object is continuity of 
life and the desire to know that life which 
has no ending. This covenant does not 
consist in bowing the head and bending 
the knee to idle worship, to ritual or to 
cult. It is just law based upon love—the 
love that seeks for no reward, the love that 
knows no failure, and that never gives up 
in the effort to serve. Where love is there 
is no fear, no discouragement and no dis¬ 
content, but instead there is continuity of 
peace and joy. He who knows this prin¬ 
ciple in the heart that is the one thing 
giving entrance into God’s kingdom will 
feel an obligation to Matthew greater than 
is felt to any of the other Apostles for 
giving the Beatitudes to man. To Mat¬ 
thew was given the great privilege of re- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


59 


cording the inmost thoughts of the Master, 
the laws giving one-ness with God. To 
him was given the recording of, " Greater 
love hath no man than he lay down his 
life to save a friend.” To him it was 
given to record, “ Flesh and blood hath 
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven.” To him it was given 
to record the twelve verses of the 5 th 
chapter of his Gospel, the greatest truths 
ever given to mankind. Why was it the 
other Apostles just touched upon these 
things while Matthew gave them in com¬ 
pleteness? This was because Matthew 
was the recorder of the words of the 
Master Christ. He placed page after 
page of the Master’s thoughts upon his 
memory and later gave these priceless 
treasures to the world of men. 

No one has ever discovered the 
teachings of Christ unless he has lived 
them. Among the many, many thousands 
who profess to be Christ’s followers only 
here and there is one who has experienced 
the Christ religion. These rare ones 
know that only the humble and pure in 


60 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


heart are able to open the outer portal 
through which they must pass to a 
knowledge of God and His kingdom. To 
this end it is absolutely necessary to still 
the thought and make the self as nothing 
before the dawning of realization. This 
is the same as to say—still all passions, 
all impulses which sway and bind the 
self to the sense life, until the Infinite 
Power manifests itself in the heart and 
the kingdom that is ever near is known. 
Realize that it is not worldly fame and 
gain, but humbleness that makes life truly 
worth while. It is only the meek who are 
worthy to inherit the earth. It does not 
matter how hate and greed are curbed, 
but it does matter how God is served. It 
does matter how the individual treats his 
neighbor. It does matter whether every 
thought and act is dedicated to the service 
of God and man. Love is the only power 
that will make the life’s acts sacred. 
Blessed are the meek for they can inherit 
anything and feel no hate or a contentious 
throb. No one can inherit the earth as 
God intended he should until he knows 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


61 


love. In the records of Matthew it is 
written, “ Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God, and his righteousness, and all these 
things shall be added unto you.” 

When love has seared its way into the 
heart, and nothing is left there save purity, 
then the things of the earth as well as the 
things of heaven will be the rightful in¬ 
heritance of the individual. Muttered 
prayers of great length are offered on 
every side and much speaking about God 
is heard; yet there are those with hoary 
heads going down to the grave who are 
asking, “ Is it possible to see God?” They 
ask this notwithstanding the fact that the 
outer covenant, which makes seeing God a 
possibility, has been extended to every 
human being. This covenant is just a 
question of being pure in heart and of 
expressing works of love in the daily acts 
of life. This, only this, gives the power 
to see God. Those who follow the laws 
recorded by Matthew will have no 
question or doubt about God. Neither 
will they find it difficult to comply with 
the Christ given direction to turn the other 


62 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


cheek to those who smite them on the one 
cheek; for it means to withhold the self 
from all contention. No one can quarrel 
or carry on an argument alone. The 
saying of the worldly wise, “ Let us 
thrash things out ” is one of the miserable, 
egotistical contentious principles to which 
man is heir. If there is the desire to know 
a thing, get the self in the state necessary 
for receiving the knowledge. He who de¬ 
sires to know truth must individually live 
it and not depend upon the saying, “ I 
want to know,” for its attainment. Faith 
is a simple thing as given by the Master 
and all the Apostles. It is just—“ Follow 
Me.” It matters not the condition or place 
in life, simply “ Follow Me ” and know 
the kingdom of God that is near. Mighty 
works will follow the one who does re¬ 
spond to this call, just as surely as two 
plus two equals four in the law of mathe¬ 
matics. 

Love God with all thy heart, with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind and thy 
neighbor as thyself. “ Do this and thou 
shalt live.” Leave father, mother, brother. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


63 


sister and friends; leave their preconceived 
ideas, their forms, their traditions, their 
family pride and know God. Every one 
wishes to know God. Every one wants 
to put down in experience what they put 
in words and they can accomplish it by the 
simple law, “ Follow Me.” They can do 
it by the three cardinal principles of heal¬ 
ing the sick, by either saying, “ Thy sins 
be forgiven thee,” or, “ Arise, and take 
up thy bed, and walk,” casting out devils, 
straightening out the crooked places that 
veer from the line of truth; and preaching 
the kingdom of God, the kingdom that is 
“ within you.” These are the marks the 
Christ follower must bear. By these the 
individual is marked as a part of the bride- 
chamber, wherein creed and cant are 
swept away, wherein the Sabbath was 
made for man and not man for the Sab¬ 
bath. All things are made for him who 
has built the principle of love in his heart, 
and has followed Matthew until he has 
become a Master in deed and in truth. 

It is well worth while to give all that 
physical man holds as dear in order to 



64 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


experience one ray of the peace felt by 
Matthew when he gave immediate obedi¬ 
ence to the call, “ Follow Me.” It is 
worth giving all that has heretofore been 
a part of existence in order to know that 
by touching the garment of “ Even the 
least of these ” they can be brought back 
to a state of one-ness with the life that is 
of God. It is worth while to realize that 
within the self is a life divine that can heal 
and bring the kingdom close to every 
creature. It is well worth while to know 
by experience the things that were re¬ 
corded by Matthew. 

It was given to this Apostle to “ Sit in 
the East ” to record the truths of life and 
to ask, “ Is all well in the West? Is it 
well in the South? Is it well in the 
North?” And when he found there was 
unity in all these places he gave the words 
of the Master, beginning with, “ Blessed 
are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven,” and continuing 
through the fifth, sixth and seventh chap¬ 
ters of his gospel, sacred truths that by 
being whispered from lip to ear had built a 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


65 


force divine in the lives of those early fol¬ 
lowers of the Christ. 

Christ died at the age of about thirty- 
three years. For two hundred years after 
this His teachings (that have been re¬ 
corded by Matthew) were closely fol¬ 
lowed, and healing the sick, the lame, the 
blind, and casting out devils were essential 
to preaching the kingdom of God. Then 
came the reign of Constantine and religion, 
the most sacred possession possible to man, 
reverted to priest craft and man-made tra¬ 
dition. For two hundred years the sick 
were healed by the power of the Lord— 
and every child of God had power to do 
His work. Then this sacred thing, given 
with lip to ear, cheek to cheek, breast to 
breast and knee to knee, was buried under 
form, cant and hypocrisy and the sacred 
truths given by Christ were lost to man. 
It is well to resurrect these truths and 
make the covenant, understanding there is 
no sacrifice that can be too great to make 
in attaining knowledge of being truly a 
part of God. 


Chapter IV. 


MARK. 

I N the study of Mark, it is well to read 
a portion of the last chapter of his gos¬ 
pel, for it shows just what was expected 
of the followers of Christ. 

This chapter outlines the death of 
Christ and His burial in the sepulchre. It 
tells that when the Sabbath was past, 
Mary Magdalene and Mary, Christ’s 
mother, went to the tomb carrying with 
them sweet spices with which to anoint 
the body of Christ, and entering the sep¬ 
ulchre, which to their surprise they found 
open, they saw a young man, garbed in 
white, sitting there. He said to them that 
Christ, whom they sought, was risen; and 
he directed them to tell Peter and the other 
disciples that the Master would see them 
in Galilee as He had promised them. The 
two Marys amazed, hurried from the 


66 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


67 


sepulchre; but they said nothing to any 
one of the message for they were afraid. 
After this Christ appeared to Mary Mag¬ 
dalene; but, when she told the disciples 
that Christ was alive and she had been 
with Him, they would not believe. Then 
Christ appeared to two others and these, 
too, when they told of the fact were not 
believed. When Christ, a little later, ap¬ 
peared to the eleven Apostles He re¬ 
proached them for their unbelief and hard¬ 
ness of heart in refusing to accept the tid¬ 
ings others had brought them that He had 
arisen. The disciples were astonished at 
Christ’s appearing, but they could not 
believe what they did not understand any 
more than man today accepts as real that 
which he cannot comprehend. Truly, 
perception is the laying hold of material 
objects or characteristics through the body 
or mental senses, it is cognizable, a sense 
thing. 

The last six verses in the last chapter 
of Mark record the directions coming 
from one not in a physical body. They 
are a direct command from Master to 


68 


Jesus of Nazareth. 

Apostle: “ Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature. He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved; but he that believeth not shall be 
damned. And these signs shall follow 
them that believe; In My name shall they 
cast out devils; they shall speak with new 
tongues; they shall take up serpents; and 
if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not 
hurt them; they shall lay hands on the 
sick, and they shall recover.” If there is 
any thing vital in the Bible, these few 
terse statements recorded by Mark make it 
worth while to every one who is seeking 
the way to the realization of God. 

Mark was one of the four in the Lodge 
who were recorders of the sayings of the 
Master. Matthew sat in the East, Mark 
in the West. From the recording came 
the teachings of love and service to all 
mankind that would make the whole world 
kin. At the close of the Gospel of Mark 
are the words: “ Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature.” 
In the records this wonderful thing is re¬ 
peatedly stated. A sign shall be given 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


69 


by the worker in God’s vineyard. There 
is one tangible asset of power, the master 
principle, making the kingdom of God 
cognizable to man. There is indeed a 
sign, a very simple yet direct sign, by 
which physical man may know whether or 
not the professed disciple of Christ has 
been baptized with the Holy Ghost. The 
sign given by the Master is, “ In My name 
shall they cast out devils; they shall speak 
with new tongues; they shall lay hands 
on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

What does it mean to speak with a new 
tongue ? The confusion of languages that 
occurred in the time of building the tower 
of Babel is said by some to have been 
speaking with new tongues. The sudden 
outburst of an ascetic into uncompre¬ 
hended words is also said to be speaking 
with a new tongue. Yet any one who 
will make use of reason will know that he 
of the “ New tongue ” will always speak 
of the spirit that is of God. The expres¬ 
sion, speaking with a new tongue, does 
not imply a new language or a changing 
of the affixes and suffixes of words. It 


70 Jesus of Nazareth. 

means to bring to the understanding of 
objective man spiritual conditions he has 
not known before. When the world of 
men hear a voice speaking that new 
tongue, each, individually, may know the 
person uttering the words speaks as one 
with authority; for he has discovered the 
kingdom that is at hand to all who will 
do the will of God. The way to become 
in touch with this kingdom is to make the 
body fit for receiving the sacred rite of 
baptism. 

Baptism,! Oh, how much quibbling 
there has been over that term. Oh, how 
many of God’s creatures have gone down 
into darkness and doubt through clinging 
to the letter (the form of applying water 
to the person) and giving no heed to the 
vital principle that is a continuity of life. 
Christ saw John baptizing with water and 
He was baptized according to that law, 
thus giving due recognition to the customs 
of those he had come to teach. But, He 
baptized with the Holy Ghost giving to 
those who received His baptism the in¬ 
finite force of eternal life. The power 


Jesus of Nazareth. 71 

coming from the Holy Ghost, when 
recognized, makes man a living soul, and 
a part of God. No man can be baptized 
in a physical way. There is no possibility 
of washing away sins by applying water. 
Were this true the world of men would 
make a greater use of bath tubs than it 
now does. Each man would feel the 
evening bath cleansed him from the effects 
of all that he had done during the day. 
Baptism then would consist of cleansing 
from without. But this is not the way of 
truth; it is not the way of mastery; it is 
not the law of growth from a low con¬ 
dition to a high degree. The law of de¬ 
velopment is to still the impulses of passion 
and appetite, of anger, doubt, fear, ego¬ 
tism and the desire for material fame and 
gain. Then there will be the power to 
say, “I love every member of the human 
family.” When the individual can make 
the love vow a covenant between the self 
and God, when in truth and in fact he can 
extend this love in service to every crea¬ 
ture, then is he duly and truly prepared 
to be baptized. 


72 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


No one has developed into a sage with¬ 
out the path travelled being marked by 
mistakes before the goal of wisdom was 
attained. The way to the kingdom of 
God, is from the state of inertia to one of 
activity, then onward to a flowering period 
into at-one-ment with the principle of 
eternal life. This process of development 
completed, the individual is baptized with 
the spirit of the Holy Ghost, and not 
before. 

In recording the directions of the Mas¬ 
ter, Mark tells how to prepare for receiv¬ 
ing the Holy Ghost. Do not kill, de¬ 
fraud not, do not bear false witness, get 
away from judging and condemning, get 
away from covetousness, pride and all 
things that tear down and make the life 
inharmonious to the law of love and ser¬ 
vice. Mark teaches the law of silence 
more than any of the other Apostles. He 
bids the individual who would follow 
Christ, “ Do these things, and tell no one.” 
Live, love and serve for the Master’s 
Cause—and be silent. Do the things that 
redound to the glory of the kingdom and 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


73 


be silent. Again and again the Christ 
admonition is given, “ Tell no one.” Pre¬ 
pare for the baptism. Make the way 
ready for the coming of God. But while 
the strife is on between the self and the 
appetites and desires, and tendencies of 
bodily life, “ Tell no one ” of the war¬ 
fare that is waging. Carry on the battle 
in silence, stilling the moans, the com¬ 
plaints and cries the physical self would 
utter, and giving to the world only the 
love, service and light that comes from the 
life within. 

The real power that healed the leper 
was in the silence of the command coming 
from the life that is of God, centered 
within the physical being. When the 
Master manifested the works of God by 
raising the dead, making the blind see and 
the lame walk, it was not by much speak¬ 
ing, but by the silent expression of the 
power from within. The real things of 
life are the result of prayer and fasting. 
No idle words were spoken in the Christ 
given directions. 

This clearly understood, then comes the 


74 


Jesus of Nazareth. 

question, “ Why fasting, and why 
prayer?” It is not the prayer of the 
Pharisee, it is not the one of much speak¬ 
ing that is only as effective as the sounding 
of brass and the tinkling of cymbals. The 
prayer of one who would know the king¬ 
dom must be the prayer of doing the little 
things of daily life, of repressing egotism 
and self-gratification, until love and ser¬ 
vice have cancelled every belittling, quib¬ 
bling, mean act in the ledger account of 
individual life. Then fast. Why? The 
law is as simple as it is wonderful. If the 
individual desires to bring his body under 
control and has not the power to carry it 
into effect in the ordinary way, then it is 
for him to whet it into obedience by say¬ 
ing, “ You shall not feel the throb of con¬ 
tention. You shall not yield to the sway 
of anger, greed, envy or to call of the 
appetites.” When the physical life ceases 
to dominate the activities, the individual 
seeking the phenomenon of love will find 
coming from this change of conditions a 
new life, called by some the subliminal 
life. It is the wonderful essence of infinite 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


75 


life that is of God, coming into a state of 
activity by the repression of the one life 
and the bringing up of the other that has 
been buried under the crust of material 
accumulations. 

He who does not express this inner life 
has not yet fasted as the Master did. It 
is possible for man to fast until the body is 
weak and useless and to pray with much 
speaking until the tongue is palsied, and yet 
not touch soul consciousness. To become 
at-one with the life that is of God means 
to attain the attitude of controlling the 
body by the sincere, ceaseless effort to 
hold it obedient to the dictates of selfless 
love. This can not be done by worrying 
about the things of yesterday or what to¬ 
morrow may bring. It is accomplished by 
living in today, filling it from beginning to 
end with glad service rendered in fullest 
measure to the Master’s cause. 

Preconceived ideas or family tradition 
and customs have nothing to do with this 
effort for bodily control. Say to the phys¬ 
ical self, “ You are my servant, I will no 
longer be amenable to you.” Right here 


76 Jesus of Nazareth . 

is where many who are seeking the light 
fail. They mistake the way of control 
and think that mastery lies in breaking and 
crucifying the body. Many are heard to 
say, “ I will make the body do the task 
in hand, giving no heed to its condition, 
whether it is fit or not.” Yet, in no record 
of the Master’s sayings can any authority 
be found for torturing and grinding down 
the body until hate, greed, discourage¬ 
ment, fretfulness, weakness and pain take 
possession. Control is not gained by mak¬ 
ing the body a broken, discordant instru¬ 
ment or a grudging slave. Those who fol¬ 
low this line of action do not give the body 
the ordinary care and training given to a 
horse in order that it may win in the race 
in which it is entered. Physical man 
builds, replenishes and cares for the struc¬ 
ture of wood and stone in which he lives, 
giving to it the best he can afford in order 
that it will be a dwelling worthy his station 
in life. No athlete has ever had a chance 
at competing in tests of endurance and 
strength until he has first brought his body 
into a perfect condition of health. It is 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


77 


just as true that no Master has directed his 
body into a complete expression of God’s 
life unless he has cared for that body by 
giving it its rightful due. Fasting does not 
mean depletion of the body; it means 
training it into obedience to a subliminal 
life as powerful and complete as the phys¬ 
ical being through which it must express 
itself. It means to make the blood cours¬ 
ing through the body a vital life stream; 
it means to give to the nerves their full 
portion of life energy. When these two 
forces are beating in harmony and the 
brain is clear and true, there will come a 
third principle that will direct the under¬ 
standing and experience into a plane of 
life heretofore inaccessible. This is the 
neutral ground between the body and the 
spiritual life. 

Therefore, say to the body, “ Fast in 
the principle of loving. Fast in the prin¬ 
ciple of serving and getting in at-one-ment 
with the life divine.” This means to lay 
hold of love with a force so strong, so 
tenacious, that the body will be, not its 
slave, but its willing servant. Then, only 



78 Jesus of Nazareth. 

then, is possession of individual power at¬ 
tained. 

It is said the Master spent forty days 
and nights in the wilderness, without food, 
shelter or raiment. During this time of 
seeking for an understanding of the mys¬ 
tery of life, for Him there was nothing 
save He and God. At the end of this time 
of fasting and prayer He came forth so 
free from the appetites and desires that 
bind to the physical things of life that 
He was capable of teaching eternal life 
to all men. This is the fasting that allows 
an idea to take possession of the brain 
until it comes from its chrysalis a gem of 
purest ray; this is the fasting that makes it 
possible for man to understand God. To 
this end it may not be necessary to stay 
in the wilderness for forty days; but he 
who sincerely desires to be freed from 
physical restrictions, he who truly wants 
to know the kingdom that is within will 
have to go through an experience that is 
akin to it. He will have to sit in the 
West until the sun has passed below the 
horizon and again returned; he will have 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


79 


to sit there until the entire cycle of the 
day has been completed. Then, if he is 
not yet strong enough for self mastery he 
must needs sit there until there is freedom 
from contentious throbbing and the yield¬ 
ing to physical sway. This accomplished, 
does not mean the individual who is pre¬ 
pared to leave the West and “ be about 
my Father’s business ” is rid of appetite, 
desire and impulse, but that he is now in 
possession of a force greater than these 
which will control and make them sub¬ 
servient to the Master’s Cause. 

Mark records, as no other did, the law 
of fasting and silence and how, by their 
use, to attain consciousness of God’s king¬ 
dom. The gospel of Mark is not a frail 
thing; it is not founded upon the sand. 
It tells, in simple words and true, of the 
coming of the Master, His baptism, both 
by water and the Holy Ghost, how He 
healed the sick and taught the law of 
silence. Mark records the way by which 
this may be individually accomplished: 
“ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 


80 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself.” He taught that love was not 
enough—“ Love ye one another,” aye, 
but love so truly, so selflessly, it will be 
possible gladly to lay down life for a 
friend. In these records it is given that, 
in due course of time, Christ selected 
twelve men as His Apostles. A question 
often asked is, “ Why twelve? Is it be¬ 
cause of being a geometrical proportion?” 
There is no logical reason why twelve men 
should be selected to guide many millions 
of people save for one thing—because 
these twelve were suited to the work. Out 
of the multitude these twelve were the 
ones to whom He could say, “ Go heal the 
sick,” not according to their wishes but 
as He directed. To them He gave 
authority to do all that He did, saying, 
** In My name shall they cast out devils; 
they shall speak with new tongues; they 
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall 
recover.” These twelve had learned the 
law of sacrifice, the law of love, of ser¬ 
vice, of fasting and of prayer. These 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


81 


faithful followers had learned the law of, 
“ Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” They 
had been baptized, not by water, but by 
the force that is of God. 

Mark followed the direction, “ Go ye 
into all the world, and preach the gospel 
to every creature.” He died a natural 
death and not as a martyr as some have 
stated. Though Mark was not a martyr 
he was a great miracle worker. With him 
it was always the law of doing and the 
law of silence. It was Paul's pleasure to 
have Mark with him, just as it was Peter’s, 
for all things were more readily and easily 
accomplished when Mark was present. 
This was because he was always acquies¬ 
cent to the law of truth and could at any 
time lay hands upon the withered limb and 
it would immediately return to the con¬ 
dition of health. He could cast out the 
devils that came forth only by fasting and 
prayer. Teaching, preaching, casting out 
devils and healing the sick, Mark exem¬ 
plified the truth of the Master’s statement, 
“ All that I do and greater things than 
these shall ye do.” 


82 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


In this day many are found trying to 
heal the sick without material methods. 
There is only one way in which it can be 
accomplished, and in the records of Mark 
this way is given. Train the body into 
harmony with God by fasting, serving and 
being silent. Why is the body broken 
and tortured by pain? Because the indi¬ 
vidual has neglected to hold the self in a 
state of harmony. One whose body had 
become worthless through the ravages of 
consumption, by following a direction of 
fasting and prayer experienced the joy of 
having his lungs again made whole and 
the body restored to a perfect condition 
of health, because of the life that does not 
die. This was the result of the love that is 
expressed to all men in service and in 
silence. It was because of the love that 
knows what fasting and prayer is. What 
one individual can do, all can do by be¬ 
coming in harmony to God’s law. No 
one receives special dispensation; no one 
is especially selected. Each individual is 
a chosen Apostle in the Master’s service 
when he has trained his body into obedi- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


83 


ence and can say, “ Thy will not mine, be 
done. I am willing to go where the Mas¬ 
ter directs and do the work in the Master’s 
way. I ask nothing for myself, I only ask 
how I can best serve my fellow man. I 
will give to all good measure pressed down 
and running over. I will follow the ex¬ 
ample of Mark, doing the work as it is 
given me to do and will ‘ Tell no one.’ ” 
This “ Tell no one ” is worth much to 
the teacher, the Apostle, the disciple and 
the aspirant. It teaches that to him who 
is about his Father’s business all the Mas¬ 
ter hath will be given for the asking, and 
“ his work will be confirmed in the signs 
following,” 


Chapter V. 


LUKE. 

I N Nazareth, when Christ stood up in 
the synagogue to teach, He read these 
words: “ The spirit of the Lord is upon 
me, because He hath anointed me to 
preach the gospel to the poor; He hath 
sent me to heal the broken hearted, to 
preach deliverance to the captives, and re¬ 
covering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised. To preach 
the acceptable year of the Lord.” Then 
He said unto them: “ Ye will surely say 
unto Me this proverb, Physician, heal thy¬ 
self: whatsoever we have heard done in 
Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 
Verily, I say unto you, No prophet is ac¬ 
cepted in his own country. But I tell you 
of a truth, many widows were in Israel in 
the days of Elias, when the heaven was 
shut up three years and six months, when 
84 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


85 


great famine Was throughout all the land; 
But unto none of these was Elias sent, save 
unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a 
woman that was a widow. And many 
lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus 
the prophet; and none of them was 
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” 

It is probable, all the Apostles did not 
write at the same time. The sacred mes¬ 
sages were given with lip to ear, cheek to 
cheek, heart to heart, and knee to knee, 
from one Master to another, until the time 
came when they could be put down in 
writing. These writings show the Masters 
had received the same truths, the same 
teachings. In each of the Apostolic 
records is the same message, varying only 
according to the education, environment or 
individuality of the writer. Luke, who 
was a physician and possessed a well 
trained mind, understood the gliding form 
of language. His records shows he un¬ 
derstood, not only the context, but the flow 
of words. Note, his is the same truth 
spoken by John, by Matthew, by Paul, by 
all the Masters. The Gospel of Luke is 


86 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


said to have been written some fifty years 
after the death of Christ—but when it 
was written, or where, matters not. The 
real law of importance is, what does it 
teach ? 

Matthew sat in the East, Mark in the 
West, and Luke—the third of the four 
recorders in the Lodge—sat in the South. 
Luke is the one who separated the twenty- 
four hours of the day into the three di¬ 
visions, eight hours work, eight hours rest, 
and eight hours of diversion. He gave 
forth the Master’s message from lip to ear, 
with cheek to cheek, breast to breast and 
knee to knee, hand clasping hand, in order 
that eavesdroppers and cowans could not 
lay hold of the sacred communication for 
the purpose of misuse. 

Cowans and eavesdroppers are among 
us today, as in the time of Luke. They 
are seeking information of divine A owers, 
to be used for self gain. The Pharisees 
and Sadducees are still seeking to possess a 
knowledge which they have not qualified 
themselves to receive,—they are striving to 
enter God’s kingdom through short cuts. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


87 


Often the eavesdropper—he who has not 
entered through the only doorway giving 
access to truth—will be heard to say, “ I 
know.”—Say to these: “ Aye, it is known 
that you have been appropriating falsely. 
It is well known you have been a cowan 
and an eavesdropper, trying by sleight-of- 
hand or legerdemain, to make use of 
powers to which you have no right. You 
know only some quibble of truth.” 

The Master’s law of love has never 
been made a possession, nor has His mes¬ 
sage of peace been comprehended by any, 
save those who can and will do love’s 
work. There is no law of love so strong 
as service, and no gospel is worth while 
that will not give this truth to the indi¬ 
vidual. 

Study the records given by Luke— 
study them, not from the East, nor from 
the West, nor yet from the South,—but 
study them from the center of being. He 
who would know the message, given from 
one Master to another, must first make 
himself duly and truly prepared to receive 
it To this end, cease speaking of the 


88 Jesus of Nazareth. 

“ Humanity of man.” It is not the law of 
Christ, nor of any of His Apostles, to 
teach humanity. Every law, teaching the 
way of development from the crude to the 
refined, from an instinctive being to God 
consciousness, is a law of Divinity. This 
law must be comprehended by man, so he 
can change his human nature into divine 
nature—the purpose of the Master’s 
message, is to make sons of God out of 
sons of men. 

The current that sweeps onward and 
upward, carrying the body with it until 
it is master of the flesh, is the divine and 
not the human current. “ To err is human, 
to forgive divine.” To seek self-gain is 
human, to serve every living creature is 
divine. It is human to hate, it is divine to 
love. In the life of man, the activity that 
is of worth, is the one pertaining to the 
divine, and not the human side. Hate, 
covetousness, greed, egotism, selfishness, 
false pride, contention, worry, doubt, lust, 
fear, discontent, all belong to the human 
part of man. Hope, charity, meekness, 
long suffering, service, peace, love and 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


89 


purity belong to the divine; and these are 
the things that make the crooked places 
straight; these the forces that will carry 
the individual, beyond the darkness of ap¬ 
petite and desire, into the realization of 
eternal life; only these will change the 
warped and broken life into one joyous 
and true. 

Luke records the law, that “Man shall 
not live by bread alone, but by every word 
of God.” Appetites and desires, hate, 
lust, fear, cruelty, worry and doubt are not 
fed by the word of God, but righteousness, 
long suffering, tranquillity, and those 
things that are beyond the body—the 
things that make life worth while. 

To find the God part of life, is the 
individual privilege of every man. Christ 
came to fulfill the law, and not to break 
it. He did what every one must do in 
order to change the nature from its human 
to its divine phase. Each one must go 
into the living temple, the body, which is 
intended for the use of God, and there 
meet the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the 
money changers, who make it a den of 


90 


Jesus of Nazareth. 

thieves, and overthrow them. Each one 
must meet hate, avarice, deceit, egotism, 
anger and guile, with the perfect love that 
casts out all fear—meet them with that 
peace which destroys all contending forces 
of the body. 

When the word Master, is indelibly 
marked above the impulses, appetites and 
tendencies of the body, there will be no 
longer any looking down upon a neighbor 
with the desire to criticise or judge. The 
one who is now living in the God life, will 
see in all others, the new life being born 
that, as time’s wheel revolves, will carry 
each individual nearer and nearer the life 
that is divine. When the human side of 
man has been refined, the light from 
within will shed its rays alike upon every 
human creature, without regard to caste, 
creed, race or social distinction. The 
body life changes to meet contending con¬ 
ditions, but the message of the Master is 
always the same. 

“ The voice of the Silence” says in the 
Hall of Learning, beneath each blossom 
will be found a coiled serpent. That ser- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


91 


pent is always trying to find a new and 
complex meaning for a simple and direct 
word. The Hall of Learning has been 
warped and distorted into a den of thieves, 
where love is not, and peace does not 
abide. The living temple has been given 
over to the money changers and the service 
of mammon. Ask what the Hall of Learn¬ 
ing has done for man, and then for an 
answer, look at the human family—they 
are found living in strife, greed, discon¬ 
tent and turmoil. Man is told to put 
away the things of the wise and prudent, 
the egotistic desires, the childish, vain 
things of life, and to follow the words of 
God, and he answers, “ The Word may 
mean this, and it may mean that. Where 
it leads we do not know.” The reason of 
this condition of fear and doubt, is be¬ 
cause the human part of life is triumphant, 
and the God part, is buried. Cant, creed 
and dogma cannot resurrect it; neither can 
it be found by heeding the traditions of 
men. It is found in the call of the Master: 
“ Follow Me.” 

In the very beginning of Christ’s min- 


92 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


istry, He declared the old dispensation 
must be concluded. This meant, the old 
regime of the Judean period, was worth¬ 
less in the progress of growth from the 
human to the divine side of life. Cleanse 
the heart from heresy, tradition and dog¬ 
mas and consciously seek truth by the law 
of experience. To talk about the old dis¬ 
pensation, is to lead away from God. At- 
one-ment with the Infinite Force of life, 
cannot be gained by delving into the dim, 
forgotten past. 

“ God is love,” and love is the law by 
which man can find God. “ Love God 
with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with 
all thy mind, with all thy strength, and 
thy neighbor as thyself,” is the way of 
eternal life, and fulfills the old dispensa¬ 
tion. This is the message to be carried to 
all the world: “ I come, not to humanize 
you, but to make you a God (not God, 
but a God). I come, not to preach to you 
of a heaven to be experienced after death, 
but one you can know here and now.” 
It is offering a cash proposition, as it were, 
one that can be cashed without delay,— 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


93 


not by prayer and fasting, but by living 
the life of selfless love and service. The 
hardest problem for man to solve, is to see 
things as they are, and not as they seem. 
The customary way is to be content with 
the surface, the letter of the law, and not 
to give heed to the message. The greater 
portion of the human family, bow the head 
in humble homage before the Messenger, 
and let the truths He gave fall upon ears 
that hear not. Most men are seeking the 
way to God’s kingdom, by listening to 
what others say, and not by what they, 
themselves, are doing. No one can find 
God by looking for Him in the house be¬ 
longing to someone else. God must be 
found at home, but before this is a possi¬ 
bility, the fleshly temple must be made an 
acceptable habitation for him. Before 
God can be individually known, the body 
must be made capable of manifesting the 
works of God. 

Luke said, Christ came into the world 
to lift the veil of darkness from those who 
could not see; to give vital life and har¬ 
mony to the body of man. Then to the 


94 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


question, “ Physician, canst heal thy¬ 
self?” the answer is, “ Yes, if another is 
present who is in harmony with the law 
of love that is life.” The Master has said, 
“ Where two or three are gathered to¬ 
gether in My name, there will I be also.” 
These assertions are not quibbles, they are 
laws, unfailing, unchanging and always 
true. Therefore, Holy Association, 
though not essential, is vital in the process 
of development from the human life to the 
divine. Because of the human side of 
life, prayer, fasting and long suffering are 
to be essentials in the journey of each in¬ 
dividual to the kingdom of heaven. 

From the human standpoint, it would be 
far more pleasant to preach to a multitude 
of idle worshipers, than to a few souls 
who are earnestly seeking the heaven that 
is at hand. If the God side is triumphant, 
there is more pleasure experienced in 
preaching God’s kingdom to one who is 
hungering for truth, than to the thousands 
who are seeking only material gain. Such 
is the difference between the human side 
of man’s nature, and the divine. Egotism 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


95 


calls for admiration, pleasure, and the 
laudation of men. Divinity has its lauda¬ 
tion and pleasure in giving loving service 
to all men. Divinity knows more real joy, 
in the one who repents and turns from the 
human to the divine side, than in the 
ninety and nine who have no need for re¬ 
pentance. The human side delights in 
erecting its house upon the sands, to be 
washed away by time. Look at the great 
buildings left from, the past, and ask, “ Is 
there aught in them that increases the 
spark of divinity in man?” Who builded 
these wonderful things of the past? No 
one knows, yet they were built purposely 
to feed the egotism of man, and they are as 
dead sea fruit; the flotsam left on the 
shores by the waves of time; a messenger 
from the past, but without a message. Not 
so with the message from the Master, that, 
crystal clear, comes down the ages, to 
man. The truth spoken by Luke, lives 
today in spite of egotism, in spite of the 
desires of the flesh, in spite of all man 
made creeds and laws. 

Luke said, “ A prophet is not without 


96 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


honor save in his own country,” but he is 
not without honor there, when he has 
learned to live the life that is divine. Let 
the Christ answer; some may have doubted 
the words of the lowly carpenter’s son, at 
first, but none doubted His wonderful po¬ 
tency when He healed the sick and 
cleansed the leper. When He raised 
Lazarus from the dead, none thought of 
Him as the carpenter’s son. He who has 
made truth a part of his life, so truly 
that it lifts humanity from the darkness 
of fear into joy, is not without honor, any 
where or any place. The Master was a 
prophet in His own country, among His 
own people, and His own kin,—but be¬ 
fore He was accepted as such, He made 
good in a foreign country. The same is 
true today, he who would make good, as 
a doer of the works,—must go into a 
foreign country—a country which is 
God’s. He must go into the country that 
is given to man only when he has made 
his human life fit to receive it. It is the 
country that becomes the center of life to 


Jesus of Nazareth. 97 

all who have become qualified to ex¬ 
press it. 

Qualifying, for entrance into this coun¬ 
try that is God’s, is not an impossible task. 
Love is the way. Peace is the law, and 
Service is the expression. Possess these 
three principles, and it will be possible to 
take off the dark shadows that make eyes 
sightless, and again restore the power of 
sight, and change the mantle of ignorance, 
degradation and sorrow, into the white 
robe of understanding, purity and joy. 
The simple message of the Master Christ, 
is love. He bids humanity listen to those 
who have experienced the truth, and then 
says they shall be known by their works. 
It is just an every-day effort, yet people 
will be heard to say, “ How can I arrive? 
I am trying to live the life, but I do not 
seem to make much progress. Why?” 
The problem is written for all to read, and 
the manner of reaching its solution is 
given. Is it not possible to understand 
that Peace is master, love is the law, and 
service is the way? Is the Christ message 
so buried in the forgotten past, that it is 


98 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


not possible to know the power of peace, 
love and service? Why even a child 
knows what peace, love and service are, 
so man should know them in their com¬ 
pleteness, and by carrying them in his 
heart, destroy every vestige of their hate, 
greed, lust and desire, that has been abid¬ 
ing there. Cast out anger from the living 
temple; drive away the Pharisees who 
have made it a den of thieves; have noth¬ 
ing to do with these itnps of darkness and 
despair. No one has ever found pleasure 
in the works of hate, anger, jealousy or 
contention. No one has ever found glory 
in the things that make the body a thing 
of despair. Every body wants happiness, 
peace and lasting power, and these can 
only be possessed by saying—and fol¬ 
lowing the saying by doing—“ I will love 
and serve. I will give peace and good 
will to all men.” The body calls for ap¬ 
probation, and falsely calls love that 
which is only egotism. Love is the glori¬ 
ous irradiation of the God life, expressing 
service to all—as the energizing rays of 
the sunshine on all alike, so Love shines 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


99 


the light that makes straight the crooked 
places of life. He who irradiates love 
from the center of his being, will not 
worry about what others say or think 
about him; he will not worry about his 
place in society, nor his family tree; but, 
he will be intent upon his Father’s business 
of expressing peace to every creature, and 
others seeing his works, will marvel at the 
potency of his love. Even the insane will 
respond to the force of love, for he who 
is filled with the Master’s peace, can go 
into an asylum, and by the power of love, 
restore the mental balance to a diseased 
mind. An idiot, an insane person, yes, 
even an animal, can understand love, 
when it is perfectly given. All can under¬ 
stand that love is the basis of law. Luke 
declared this law to be the simplest thing 
in all the world, but, in order to make it 
a vital factor in life, each individual must 
realize that every man is his brother, and 
every woman his sister; this realization will 
make him go any distance to serve even 
“ the least of these.” 

Every law of serving is recorded by 


100 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Luke. Some thirty parables have been 
written down by him, for the purpose of 
showing the law, and the work of the 
Master Life. These laws have been re¬ 
corded in language so simple and forceful, 
that all who will, can understand and fol¬ 
low them. Love with purity; love with 
meekness; love with charity; love with 
humility; love continuously, and then do 
the work of serving all mankind. There is 
nothing so wonderful as the sign borne by 
the true follower of Christ. 

In the Gospel of Luke, and in his only, 
—17th chapter, 21st and 22nd verses— 
is the location of the kingdom of God 
definitely and distinctly given. 

Luke placed woman in her rightful 
place. According to his record, there 
were as many women as men among the 
followers of the Master Christ; as many 
wonderful souls among women, as among 
the men; as many women loyally serving 
in His Cause. 


Chapter VI. 


JOHN. 



'HE first portion of the text is taken 


from the 5th chapter of St. Luke, be¬ 
ginning with the 12th verse and continuing 
to the 7th. Then the attention is called 
to the 9th chapter of St. Luke, the first six 
verses, in which the Apostles were given 
authority. In the 22nd chapter of Reve¬ 
lations, the 12th, 13th, and 14th verses 
will be found:—“ And behold I come 
quickly; and my reward is with me, to 
give every man according as his work shall 
be. I am Alpha and Omega, the begin¬ 
ning and the end, the first and the last. 
Blessed are they that do His command¬ 
ments, that they may have right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in through the 
gates into the City.” These are a few, 
a very few expressions of what the teach¬ 
ings of John really meant. 


101 


102 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Of all the disciples, and there were 
seventy or more, and of all the Apostles, 
of which there were twelve, John was the 
love disciple, the one who epitomized the 
sayings of Christ, so that almost all his 
gospel is of that which was said by Christ 
during the last twenty-four hours of His 
life. It is said that John was the best 
beloved of Christ, the Apostle giving 
forth the love force that expresses light and 
life to all who want to know the kingdom 
of the Divine Power. 

John was free born. His birth place 
is supposed to have been Bethsaida. His 
father was a ship-builder and his mother, 
Salome, probably had servants in her 
house. It is also stated that John was 
related to the High Priest. Be this as it 
may, the intent is to speak not of the phys¬ 
ical side of his life, but the introspective 
portion. The wish is, not to dwell upon 
the letter, but the real law that is found 
underneath the text. For if religion is 
worth while, it is worth knowing to its very 
heart. It is worth knowing by living it. 
It is worth knowing in detail and com- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


103 


pleteness. More than all this, it is in¬ 
finitely of worth in showing the egotistical 
physical being what he is now, and what 
he will be when he has made himself 
worthy and qualified to express love, the 
force of light and life eternal. 

Every human being can understand he 
is dual in nature. It is easy to know the 
body side which is born to die and crum¬ 
ble in the grave, and it is just as easy to 
know that something embedded within this 
crust of material matter which, if allowed 
to manifest itself, will make of the body 
a vehicle manifesting God. 

Recognize that John, more than any 
of the other Apostles, gives the light and 
the way of comprehending the love force 
that is of God. “ I am the bright and 
morning star, the light of the world.” It 
is this true light “ Which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world,” the 
truth seeker must attain. “ By this shall 
all men know that ye are My disciples, if 
ye have love, one to another.” “ Greater 
love hath no man than this, that he lay 
down his life to save a friend.” Paul 


104 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


says, “ Perfect love casteth out all fear, 
and he that feareth is not made perfect in 
love.” Love worketh no ill to his neigh¬ 
bor, therefore, love is the fulfilling of the 
law. No one who has traveled to mastery, 
has found the journey one of bliss. It is 
the road of physical unfoldment. It is the 
battle in which the egotistical physical 
self is slowly and painfully forced to serve, 
where before it commanded. The realiza¬ 
tion extending from the existence of the 
damned to the knowledge of God, is not 
possible save through physical experience. 
In every life a time comes, when the in¬ 
tense desire is to cease existing in a phys¬ 
ical way (this is the time ordinarily called 
conversion) and know the life that is of 
God. This is the time the covenant is 
made, by which the individual slowly but 
surely changes from an instinctive being, 
swayed by physical and mental impulses, 
to a consciousness of life that is of God. 
This is the time when the individual com¬ 
prehends the body must be made a servant 
of God, if He is to be served, and God 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


105 


must be held in abeyance, if the egotistical 
self is to be served. 

The dividing line between the physical 
self and the soul, is so distinctly marked 
that all who will can know. If the desire 
is to live where ideality and hope exist, the 
physical tendencies, the egotistical de¬ 
sires, the throbbing things of the body, 
must be put away from the thought, and 
replaced by “ The love that faileth not.” 
Very few realize that the principle in the 
simple law, “ Love God with all thy 
heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, 
with all thy strength,” and the second law 
which is even greater, “ Love thy neighbor 
as thyself ”—is every bit of the law from 
the beginning of time. It is all of the 
prophets boiled down to one word—that 
word is love. He who lays hold of the 
power, the wonderfulness, the simplicity of 
it, will cease quibbling about terms, and 
get down to the work of living love. They 
will express it in every thought, deed and 
word. 

He who does not know how to love, 
needs only to turn to John. Read his in- 


106 Jesus of Nazareth. 

terpretations of the teachings of the Master 
Christ. Read again of the simplicity of 
His acts, and know there is an Infinite 
power within man which controls the 
physical being, and, when this is thor¬ 
oughly comprehended, the physical nature 
is lost in the principle that dwells within. 

The individual can make the covenant 
today, just as the disciples did back yon¬ 
der. John left his former manner of life, 
and followed the Master. Peter did the 
same, also Matthew, Mark and Luke. All 
the disciples left their daily work and 
followed Christ, in order to do the work 
of the God life within them. This cove¬ 
nant is the essential thing, in every great 
undertaking—it must be made between 
the plastic brain and the plastic center of 
life. Assertion is worth nothing, save as 
an expression of a living force. If ready to 
live the life that John taught was love, 
then take up every detail of work and 
follow them with the exactness of a Mas¬ 
ter Builder, who follows an Architectural 
Plan. Follow these principles of the soul, 
until they are made a part of the self. No 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


107 


one can be a part of his brother or his 
sister, while he is building barriers between 
himself and his fellow beings. This 
principle given by John is not experienced, 
or even understood, until it is possible to 
love by the same law followed by John. 
It cannot be touched by any one except 
by the natural law of becoming at-one with 
it. In speaking to a child, the rule is, 
speak as a child, and you will be under¬ 
stood. Be as the ignorant, if the desire 
is to reach them, and the ignorant will un¬ 
derstand. If the intellectual is the type 
desired to reach, then raise the self to the 
plane of intelligence, and the intellectual 
will understand. Likewise, when there is 
a wish to talk of God, do as John did, 
become at-one with God. Touch the 
Infinite Force, then carry it down to the 
ignorant, speak of Him so those hemmed 
in by physical darkness can understand, 
and by that understanding turn to the 
light. Use nothing unnatural, unknown or 
broken. Make the God life and the 
finite being one of a buoyant tendency, 
that the individual light may shine—do it 


108 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


by learning to serve the “ Least of these ” 
in the brotherhood of man. There is no 
place in the human family where the light 
cannot reach. If it touches even one, it 
can touch more. If it touches a few, it 
can touch many, and when it reaches a 
thousand men and women, it has become a 
principle that each one, as an individual, 
can lay hold of and by irradiating it, be¬ 
come a beacon guiding others away from 
ignorance, doubt and sorrow, to the un¬ 
derstanding and experience of God. 

To know this vital law of at-one-ment, 
study some one person. Imagine, by a 
process of mental picturing, he is a part of 
the self. Try to think and feel as he 
does. Casting aside all prejudice and 
aversion, get into the plane in which he 
lives, then talk to him, and there will re¬ 
sult the condition of at-one-ment in pro¬ 
portion to the right judgment of his char¬ 
acter and manner of life. 

The principle of love is synchronism. 
This is the law by which to test the re¬ 
ligion of Christ. When this is the rule, 
there will no longer be the bowing of the 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


109 


head, and the bending of the knee in idle 
worship, for the nature of God will be 
laid hold of, and the power of touching 
universal consciousness attained. So, “ I 
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the end.” I am the principle of God 
manifesting in every creature. I am the 
illuminated spark irradiating through the 
body, just in the proportion that the latter 
is at-one with the inner radiance. 

Break away from the creed of ma¬ 
teriality, from illusion, from the things that 
lead nowhere. Realize the only way of 
truth is to test it by expressing it to the 
members of the human family. To this 
end, be as firm as the Rock of Gibraltar, 
where truth is at stake, and let the expe¬ 
dients be what they may. 

The teachings given to the Apostles 
were not written down for many years 
after the death of Christ, but were trans¬ 
mitted from one to another. During the 
time of the persecution and oppression of 
the early Christians, these teachings were 
whispered with lip to ear, cheek to cheek, 
breast to breast and knee to knee, in order 


110 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


that the cowan and tyrant might not hear. 
Matthew did not write his gospel until 
some thirty years or more after the death 
of the Master,—neither did Mark or 
Luke, and John did not write until the 
latter part of the century. The writings 
John gave, in the ripened years of his life, 
—for it is said he had reached the age of 
about one hundred years at the time of 
writing,—were not only the gospel, but 
also the epistles, and the book of Revela¬ 
tions, in which was given the prophet’s 
visions, and the seven messages to the 
churches, showing the seven conditions of 
growth. He wrote so simply and directly 
that one without over much learning could 
readily understand. The Book of Reve¬ 
lations, whose seal will never be broken 
by the wise and the prudent, will be re¬ 
vealed to the simple and true of mind, to 
the pure hearted. It will be revealed only 
to those, who have thrown wide open the 
door of the heart to the oncoming Master 
—the divine life that dwells within the 
Sanctum Sanctorum. The entrance into 
this inner shrine, is through a free open 


Jesus of Nazareth. 1 1 1 

doorway, leading from the outer darkness 
of physical life, to the Infinite irradiation 
in which the light of the illumined soul 
burns forever. This light is not subject 
to the drafts of physical impulse; it is not 
subject to any of the things that sway the 
physical being, because it is the Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end. Mean¬ 
ing that God, dwelling within the material 
form, is a light that is greater than any 
that is on the earth, or the sun in heaven; 
greater than anything known in a physical 
way. It means, that this glorious radiance 
dwells within each human being, when he 
lays hold of the principles of eternal life, 
which has an abiding place in every human 
being. “ I am the light of the world; he 
that followeth Me shall not walk in dark¬ 
ness, but shall have the light of life.” This 
light attained, means qualification to 
preach the kingdom of God, the kingdom 
that John showed was the one of love. 

“ He called the Apostles together and 
said unto them: Take nothing for your 
journey, neither staves, nor script, neither 
bread, neither money; neither have two 


112 Jesus of Nazareth. 


coats apiece. Enter into a house and there 
abide until the ministry with ihem is fin¬ 
ished, and say to all, the kingdom is near.” 
There is no use in saying to any house, 
“ The kingdom of God is near,” until 
the one speaking has made the kingdom 
a part of his individual life; otherwise, his 
words are like the sounding brass of the 
Pharisees, and the tinkling bells of the 
edifices, that must be quiet when heaven 
on earth is an accomplished experience. 

Christ meant just what He said, when 
He declared, “ The kingdom of God is 
at hand;” live it, feel it and express it, 
and then, “ Go ye to all the world and 
preach the kingdom of God.” When the 
sick, the distressed, and the broken in mind 
and body, come for help, understand, 
authority over disease is given to those 
who follow the Master’s commands, and 
serve them—not in doubt, neither in aus¬ 
terity, but—(as John showed the way) 
in love. Lift the veil of sorrow, and re¬ 
place it with Peace. Transform the black 
mantle of iniquity, into the white robe of 
purity. Change the downtearing desires 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


113 


into works of love, and make the daily 
life worth while. Cast out devils, for here 
again, is the example of John: “ Believe 
Me for My very work’s sake. Believe 
that I am the son of the Father. The 
works that I do are My Father’s. If it 
were not so, these wonderful works could 
not be.” Again he said: “If I do the 
works of the Father, though ye believe 
not Me, believe the works; that ye may 
know and believe that the Father is in Me 
and I in Him.” 

Read again and ponder well the gos¬ 
pel of John, and realize this wonderful 
man gives all praise and power to the soul. 
He gives all honor to the God that dwells 
within the son of man. Put things to the 
test of experience. There is no law worth 
while that does not always work the prob¬ 
lem in the same way, and give the same 
result. The religion of Christ is indi¬ 
vidual. Salvation is free—only when the 
individual is ready to pass through the 
doorway to the inner life. Salvation de¬ 
pends upon the thoughts and acts of the 
self, and not upon what others accomplish 


114 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


for him; neither can one give salvation to 
another by what he does for them. Re¬ 
ligion depends upon the individual under¬ 
standing of the law of love and service. 

Until the individual has gone into the 
wilderness, and fought temptation up to 
the time he knows he is master of the ten¬ 
dencies, appetites and impulses of his 
physical nature, he is not ready or worthy 
to enter into the kingdom of God. All 
know the human family are slowly but 
surely coming home. As old age creeps 
onward, the appetites and tendencies of the 
body are lulled into rest, but greater than 
the quietness that comes with old age, is 
the love that mellows the life forces while 
youth is transcendent. 

The most wonderful thing in all the 
world is to, “ Love ye one another, as I 
have loved you.” Love, so its expresssion 
may touch every living soul. Make the 
covenant to love. Realize it is the all 
conquering power in life. Love so truly, 
there is the ability to be humble before 
God and man. Love is the watchword 
giving entrance into eternal life. Love 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


115 


cannot be expressed while the contentious 
forces of physical life are running ram¬ 
pant. Love demands the harmony of 
peace; it demands this, and this only, but 
to attain it, means to kill out anger, jeal¬ 
ousy, possessive love, all the meannesses 
of contention, and the tendency to think 
the self better than the neighbor. Man is 
prone to do anything and everything that 
is not a part of the principle of love. He 
feels the desire to criticise, to judge, and 
to condemn the acts of others, and to be 
blind to his own frailties and faults. He 
seeks self excuse, but is pitiless to the mis¬ 
takes of others. He long remembers the 
harsh word, and quickly forgets the acts 
of kindness. Bear in mind it is a part of 
life, to raise the self out of the desire to be 
judge and executor, into the plane where 
the law is “ judge not.” Make the heart 
pure. Gladly turn the other cheek, keep¬ 
ing away from argument, contention and 
bitter feelings. If this, at first thought, 
seems impossible, try it. Then, if failure 
is counted a thousand times, it means there 
has been a thousand opportunities taken. 


116 Jesus of Nazareth. 


and if the trying is persistently maintained, 
sometime the problem will be correctly 
solved, and entrance into the kingdom of 
love attained. When this time comes in 
the individual’s life, he will say with John, 
“ I beseech thee, not as though I gave a 
new commandment unto thee, but that 
which we have had from the beginning, 
that we love one another.” 


Chapter VII. 


PETER 

I N THE first chapter of the Second 
Epistle of Peter it is well to consider 
the verses from the 3rd to the 15th in con¬ 
nection with the Apostle Peter. In the 
16th chapter of St. Matthew, beginning 
with the 13 th verse is found the account 
of the Master, when He came to the coast 
Cesarea Philippi, asking the disciples, 
“Whom do men say that I the Son of 
man am?” They answered that some 
thought Him to be John the Baptist, 
others thought Him to be Elias and still 
others said He was Jeremias, or one of 
the prophets. Then Christ questioned 
them, “But whom say ye that I am?” 
And Peter answered, “Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God,” It 
was then that Christ said to him: “Blessed 
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and 
117 


118 Jesus of Nazareth. 

blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
my Father which is in heaven. * * And 
upon this rock I will build my church; 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it.” In the first ten or twelve chap¬ 
ters of the Acts of the Apostles will be 
found almost a complete history of the 
works and life of Peter. 

While John was baptizing the multi¬ 
tude, Christ came down to the river Jordan 
and was baptized by him. Then came 
the forty days and nights in the wilderness; 
and just after this Christ, walking by the 
sea of Galilee, saw Peter and Andrew 
fishing and He called them to follow Him. 
Peter and his brother Andrew left their 
nets and gave immediate response to the 
Master’s command. They were of the 
simple type of men and they asked no 
questions, they made no vain assertions, 
but straightway sought to follow Him 
who would lead them to the understand¬ 
ing of life in its fulness. This was also 
true of James and his brother John. When 
they heard the call, without hesitation they 
left all that had been of importance in 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


119 


order to follow the Master; and by the 
law of sacrifice their lives were made 
amenable to God’s service and they be¬ 
came Apostles. 

That one who can comprehend the irra¬ 
diation of the infinite principle within the 
physical being so fully and truly he can 
say “Not my will, but thine be done,’’ 
who can feel it so forcibly, so intensely 
no fleshly tendencies or impulses can sway 
him, will understand the kingdom of God 
just as readily and surely as did Peter and 
Paul. He will know it just as truly as 
did Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; for 
it is given to all to understand how to be 
partakers of the divine life that is within 
every human being. The way is that 
simple law given by the lowly fisherman 
who said; “Add to your faith virtue; and 
to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge 
temperance; and to temperance patience; 
and to patience godliness; and to godliness 
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kind¬ 
ness chanty; and to chanty forgetfulness; 
and to forgetfulness the fruitfulness that 
is knowledge of the kingdom of God.’’ 


120 Jesus of Nazareth. 

Knowledge of the manner of traveling 
from the physical conditions of life to 
those that are of God can be gained in no 
better way than by the testimony of those 
who have journeyed over the road. There¬ 
fore Peter is as a beacon on a hilltop, aye, 
every living soul is a light that gives in¬ 
spiration to every one journeying after 
them over the selfsame pathway. 

So the poor, lowly fishermen, unkempt 
and unlettered, are found giving light to 
those in the darkness of lust, fear and con¬ 
tention. They are found healing the 
broken, diseased bodies, giving sight to 
the blind and making straight the crooked 
places in the lives of those about them— 
after they had heard the call and left be¬ 
hind them all that before had meant life 
and followed the Master into the way of 
truth. 

It was Peter’s house in Capernaum 
which Christ and several of the Apostles 
made their abiding place. However, it is 
not the personal “I” that is worth while 
in the study of Christ, it is the contempla¬ 
tion of the adjuncts of the life divine that 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


121 


counts in the growth to consciousness of 
God. After the multitude was fed with the 
five loaves and the two small fishes, Christ 
directed the disciples to enter into a ship 
and go before Him to the other side of the 
sea. He then left them and went up into 
a mountain to pray. When evening was 
come the wind grew fierce and the ship 
was so tossed about by the waves the dis¬ 
ciples became exceedingly afraid. Christ, 
becoming conscious of their fear, went to 
them, walking upon the water. The dis¬ 
ciples seeing Him coming over the water 
thought He was a spirit and were afraid; 
so Christ called to them, “It is I, be not 
afraid.” When Peter heard the Master 
he said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come 
unto thee on the water.” Christ answered, 
“Come”; and Peter did walk upon the 
water until, seeing the rough waves, he 
became frightened and then began to sink. 
Calling to Christ he said, “Master, save 
me.” Christ, catching hold of him, ex¬ 
claimed, “O thou of little faith, where¬ 
fore didst thou doubt?” 

This is the picture of the pathway to 


122 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


mastery. It is the illustration of the law 
of growth all must some time follow. 
Without faith no one can do the works 
of the Father which is in heaven. “O ye 
of little faith,” hear the Master say, “By 
their works ye shall know them.” It is 
known that He blasted the fruitless fig 
tree; it is known that He made His own 
life fruitful in deeds of loving service to 
the multitude; and He said, “If ye have 
faith as a grain of mustard seed * * * * 
nothing shall be impossible unto you.” 
Cease doubting, therefore, and say, “Mas¬ 
ter, teach me the way to its attainment.” 

The way is simply and directly taught 
by precept and example. Anyone who 
will can know the way to heal all man’s 
infirmities. All can know how to purify 
the unholy places in life. All can lay 
hold of the faith that gives power to ex¬ 
press the works that are of God. But 
when those who say, “I do believe,” are 
left to stand alone and passion’s sway is 
felt, or contentious impulses sweep over 
them, fear takes possession of them and 
God is forgotten. How many there are 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


123 


who have felt the touch of doubt and con¬ 
tradiction when left to stand alone. 

The first lesson taught by Peter is, “Suf¬ 
ficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” 
Each individual who in all sincerity wants 
to live the life of God-consciousness must 
know the part of this nature that is divine 
and with it, do the work in hand without 
doubt, question or hesitation. Then legions 
of angels will be back of the ef¬ 
fort and in his inmost heart he will 
acclaim, “This is the power of God.” 
Each condition of growth yields the un¬ 
changing realization its purpose is that of 
preaching the kingdom of God, making 
the crooked places straight first in the 
individual life and then in the lives of 
others, and lightening the burdens carried 
by the weary, footsore travelers on life’s 
path. Yet Peter, virile and possessed of 
strength of character beyond those about 
him, was not strong enough to withstand 
temptation when it came. “ I know Him 
not” were the words of Peter as he denied 
Christ. This same thing can be said about 
those who come today to worship at the 


124 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


throne of God. When the dissolution of 
the body is taking place and death is 
near, they know not the God that is close 
to them. The greater portion of mankind 
live in a slough of despondency and in 
agony of fear because they have not 
knowledge of the power of God that is 
present to heal man’s infirmities—not only 
the aches and pains of the physical body 
but the unequal conditions of the brother¬ 
hood of man. The downtearing struggle 
to accumulate material possessions at the 
expense of one’s fellows, the making gra¬ 
dations in life from the barbarian through 
the labyrinth of culture, marking condi¬ 
tions of caste, creed and social distinc¬ 
tions, keeps the individual from realizing 
the brotherhood in which all mankind are 
bound by ties of loving service, one to an¬ 
other, is the potent factor in the growth of 
the body from the instinct-governed being 
to a refined, vibrant vehicle expressing the 
manifestations of God. 

No one can grow to consciousness of 
the soul until he gets away from the 
dwarfing idea of separation. Peter 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


125 


simply and truly showed the way. He 
was firmly grounded in the idea that the 
Jews were the selected people and that 
John was sent to save the Jews only, until 
he was given the vision of the great sheet 
knit at the four corners “ Wherein were 
all manner of four-footed beasts of the 
earth, and the wild beasts, and creeping 
things, and fowls of the air. And there 
came a voice to him. Rise, Peter; kill, 
and eat. But Peter said, Not so Lord, 
for I have never eaten anything that is 
common or unclean. And the voice 
spake unto him again the second time. 
What God hath cleansed, that call not 
thou common.” Then Peter realized his 
work was to preach the kingdom of God, 
not only to the Jews, but to all people. 
So when Cornelius sent for him to come 
to Cesarrea to teach the Gentiles the law 
of the way to God’s kingdom, he obeyed 
the summons and gave to them the simple 
principle of the divine life dwelling within 
the crust of clay. 

The majority of people think the 
power of manifesting this infinite force of 


126 


Jesus oj Nazareth. 


life is for the select few, when all the 
time the slogan comes ringing down the 
ages to make no arbitrary distinctions. 
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and 
His righteousness and all these things 
shall be added unto you.” If this mes¬ 
sage is true, then there are no creeds, no 
ritual, no dogmas to separate the human 
family into sects and social classes in the 
religion given by Christ. All are mem¬ 
bers of one brotherhood; all are going 
from the condition of the brute beast, 
preying upon his fellows, to the one of a 
living soul, using the physical body as a 
vehicle of divine expression. Listen to 
Peter telling Jews, Gentiles, publicans or 
sinners—all who would hear his words— 
of the divine power that gives to all men 
the things belonging to eternal life and 
godliness: “Add to your faith virtue; 
and to virtue knowledge; and to knowl¬ 
edge temperance; and to temperance pa¬ 
tience; and to patience godliness; and to 
godliness brotherly kindness; and to 
brotherly kindness charity;” and to 
charity is added the cap sheaf of individ- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 127 

ual life—knowledge of the works of 
God. 

Blessed are the humble, for no one 
can lay hold of the kingdom of divine 
life until egotism and false pride have 
ceased to be a part of his nature. Know 
that the infinite irradiation on the form of 
clay is the same in every human being, 
and the house of clay must be made pow¬ 
erful in the service of God. Meekness 
means to master the egotistical desires of 
the body and to replace them with the 
love of God and with unhesitating 
promptness do the full compliment of 
God’s work. Nothing is so damnable 
and limiting as fear. Nothing holds the 
individual so completely away from God 
as fear. Wipe away the thought and the 
dread of what others may say. Take up 
the cross daily and follow after the Mas¬ 
ter. Free the self from the fear of con¬ 
demnation and from persecution if de¬ 
sirous of living the life of love. Say, “If 
persecution and despite be a part of the 
life that is dedicated to God, let them 
come.” Blessed are the pure in heart, 


128 Jesus of Nazareth. 


for they shall neither condemn or judge 
the acts of others. Blessed are those who 
feel the oncoming life of infinite force in 
their own body. Blessed are those who 
feel compassion for all mankind. Blessed 
are those who destroy the confines of 
creed and caste. Blessed are those who 
are ready to do the Master’s work. 
“ Blessed are the pure in heart; for they 
shall see God.” 

This is the way traversed by Peter, 
the way by which he grew from the lowly 
state of a fisherman to the exalted one of 
mastery and capability of manifesting the 
power of God. When Peter entered the 
room where Dorcas was lying and told 
her to arise, it was the power of God that 
restored her to life. Peter knew this was 
so when he healed the sick, made the lame 
walk and was instrumental in making the 
diseased body whole. No physical 
counterpart of life is capable of accom¬ 
plishing these things, it is only when God 
manifests in man with His infinite love and 
purity that these so-called miracles can be 
accomplished. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


129 


It is little wonder that Paul thought 
much of Peter. Although they were dis¬ 
similar in their natures, they were both 
serving the same Master, teaching the 
same law and working in the same cause 
—the cause that all must some time serve. 
No one can get around it, beyond it or 
away from it. The path to its attainment 
is covered with countless wrecks of hu¬ 
man beings who, having met some little 
temptation, have fallen by the wayside, 
or perhaps become enmeshed in the ten¬ 
drils of fear. Yet the gate is open, the 
way straight and narrow and the path to 
it is marked by directions simple and clear. 
To traverse this path means to go rough 
shod over the appetites and tendencies of 
egotism—the family tree and social state 
must be forgotten. One-ness with God 
is not attained by man-made creed or tra¬ 
dition, but by the way blazed by Christ 
and His Apostles. God is not touched 
by ordinary means but by the laws ex¬ 
emplified by Christ. God’s realm is ex¬ 
perienced only by following the very 
Light from God. “ Upon this rock I will 


130 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


build My church.” What is the rock? 
The knowledge that within every phys¬ 
ical tabernacle is the light that is of God. 
Christ said this knowledge that God dwelt 
within every living creature was not re¬ 
vealed by flesh and blood but by the 
light that comes from within. It was upon 
this spirit that Christ said, “ I will build 
My church ”—meaning that every mem¬ 
ber of the human family is a part of that 
church to the extent they control their 
physical being in which the God prin¬ 
ciple is centered and through which it 
must manifest. 

Searching through the legendary lore 
of the Catholic Church, the assertion will 
be found that Peter was the first Pope of 
Rome. Upon that rock the Church of 
Rome has been builded, notwithstanding 
the fact that for years after Christ’s death 
not a line was written about any of the 
Apostles. This fact is interpolated for 
the purpose of showing how futile it is 
for man to build a structure upon physical 
things. Build not upon the things of 
earth but upon the infinite things of ever- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


131 


lasting life. This is the real power, the 
infinite eternal kingdom, the real unction 
that, like leaven permeating the meal, 
raises the individual life to God. This 
kingdom is not a Lome or country, for 
“Behold the kingdom of God is within 
you.” The law of Christ was given from 
one to another in whispers, standing cheek 
to cheek, breast to breast, knee to knee 
and lip to ear. Thus were given truths to 
man that will make him a vital worker 
in the kingdom of God. 

Peter was a master in possession of 
power to do the works exemplified by 
Christ, and, when he was asked what 
wonderful thing was behind his words 
and works, his answer was that God had 
promised that the Holy Ghost should 
descend upon every creature who would 
do His will. Man thinks of the Holy 
Ghost as a dove, a tangible thing, when 
in truth it is the light of divine under¬ 
standing that is given only to him who 
has made the self clean by loving God 
with all his heart, with all his soul, with 
all his mind and strength and his neighbor 


132 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


as himself. Through doing the work of 
loving service to all mankind the covenant 
between the self and the Giver of life is 
consummated by the descent of the Holy 
Ghost. It comes very rarely to the one 
who is bending the knee and bowing the 
head to form, creed or “isms.” It can 
not come to one held in the bonds of pre¬ 
conceived ideas, prejudice or man-made 
tradition. Peter exemplified this during 
his pentecostal fight. The life, eternal 
and infinite, within the human form is not 
a conscious possession until the heart has 
been purified by the fires of renunciation 
and sacrifice. The divine force is an ex¬ 
perienced part of man when he is duly 
and truly prepared and qualified to do the 
Master’s bidding. There is no Holy 
Ghost in the communion; there is 
no Holy Ghost in repentance; there is no 
Holy Ghost in baptism; these are just 
conditions of the body. The Holy Ghost 
comes only by realizing “ The kingdom 
of God within you.” That is the only 
precept God gives, come to it duly and 
truly prepared to do His bidding, for no 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


133 


one can receive it in any other way. This 
means to do as Peter did—continually 
speak the Word and be fruitful in the 
works that are of God. 

It has been said that Peter died ?s a 
martyr at the same time Paul was killed, 
but this is legendary, for there is an au¬ 
thentic statement that he died a natural 
death. Paul was the martyr and Peter 
the saint. Both were masters in the body, 
both were filled with the Holy Ghost and 
both taught the way, the law and the life. 
Peter taught healing because it was the 
way; and he shov/ed the method of its 
accomplishment to his disciples, for that 
was also the way. All who would do 
the Master’s work must heal the sick, 
give sight to the blind, make the deaf 
hear, cast out devils and preach the king¬ 
dom of God. So the selection of the 
disciples was according to their fitness to 
heal the body and preach the kingdom 
of God. This was the first requisite. The 
second was to be in possession of a reten¬ 
tive memory—the simple, clear mind of 
childhood—for the teachings of the Mas- 


134 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


ter were given from lip to ear, from per¬ 
son to person, until the one to whom 
they were given grew into a part of the 
divine life. 

Peter showed the way as did none 
other of the Apostles, because of the won¬ 
derful experiences given to him. Peter, 
the fisherman, at whose house the Master 
dwelt for three years, went about preach¬ 
ing the kingdom of God, that others in 
the land might know the infinite, eternal 
power that is within every human being. 


STEPHEN. 


Chapter VIII. 

A TTENTION is first directed to the 
17th, 18th and 19th verses of the 
5th chapter of St. Matthew: “Think 
not I am come to destroy the Law and 
the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, 
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you. 
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever 
therefore shall break one of these least 
commandments, and shall teach men so, 
he shall be called the least in the king¬ 
dom of heaven; but whosoever shall do 
and teach them, the same shall be called 
great in the kingdom of heaven.” Then 
read the 35th verse in the 13th chapter of 
Luke: “ Behold your house is left unto 
you desolate: and verily I say unto you. 
Ye shall not see me, until the time come 
when ye shall say, Blessed is he that 
135 


136 Jesus of Nazareth. 

cometh in the name of the Lord.” In the 
8th verse in the 6th chapter of Acts this 
statement will be found in regard to 
Stephen: “ And Stephen, full of faith 

and power, did great wonders and mir¬ 
acles among the people.” Toward the 
end of Stephen’s defense before the high 
priest, beginning with the 51st verse of 
the 7th chapter of Acts, he said this, “Ye 
stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart 
and ears, ye do always resist the Holy 
Ghost: as your fathers did so do ye. 
Which of the prophets have not your 
fathers persecuted? and they have slain 
them which showed before of the coming 
of the Just One: of whom ye have been 
now the betrayers and murderers: Who 
have received the law by the disposition 
of angels, and have not kept it.” 

The attention is directed to these 
verses for the purpose of connecting in 
one perfect link the law of succession. If 
the idea is accepted that Christ was a 
messenger of divine law, then the message 
He sought to deliver should be known. 
If He is accepted as a divine revealer. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


137 


then that which He revealed must be 
known in order that a personal under¬ 
standing of that which was in the law 
to reveal may be attained: “Verily I 
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
from the law, till all be fulfilled.** The 
law delivered in the Christ message was, 
“ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all 
thy strength, and with all thy mind; and 
thy neighbor as thyself.” The law is to 
express this love to all mankind in equal 
sincerity. To do this, it must be realized, 
there is no difference between the life 
within every human being and the per¬ 
sonal ego. The difference, if any, is only 
in the outer form, in social position, phys¬ 
ical or mental attainments, or on those 
conditions, nicely divided by man into 
caste, creed, and social state;—condi¬ 
tions created by man, not by God. No 
master, who has sought to teach man the 
way to God’s kingdom—it matters not 
whence he came or to what people,—has 
made any distinctions in the soul life. The 


138 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


differences in the lives of men have al¬ 
ways been political, social or those of 
creed, always man-made and as mutable 
and ostentatious as all things are that are 
built by man. Spiritual life does not de¬ 
pend upon physical conditions. When 
the physical activities of life are raised 
to the purified state in which they can 
respond to the higher forces of life, the 
physical being then becomes a vehicle ex¬ 
pressing the God life. 

The message Christ brought to man 
was so potent it changed the doctrines 
and rites of Judaism into a religion that 
has transformed the world. To “ love 
God with all thy heart,” was a new 
theory. Indeed new to those to whom 
might was right, and whose cry of justice 
was, “ An eye for an eye.” Putting this 
love to the test, by “ Loving thy neighbor 
as thyself” was a revolution. The Mas¬ 
ter’s command was to reach the right hand 
of fellowship to all men, not in theory, 
not in mental attitude, not in a Utopian 
dream, but in loving service rendered. Do 
it, by holding the bodily impulses in abey- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


139 


ance, and writing master over the house 
of clay. This is not an easy thing to do 
when the senses have had full sway over 
the physical life;—neither can it be ac¬ 
complished by bowing the head in idle 
worship nor by accepting any tenet of 
belief. It is only done by dedicating the 
life anew to the service of God and man¬ 
kind. 

Go into the wilderness as Christ did, 
and there remain until control of the 
bodily life is attained. The wilderness 
does not mean one of brush and trees, but 
of individual appetites, impulses and de¬ 
sires. Meet these and change them from 
physical things to forces that express the 
works of God. Stay in the wilderness 
until there is not a desire left save that to 
serve all men. Stay until it is possible 
to say, “ I am master of every frailty, 
down tearing impulse and weakness of 
my body. I have conquered hate, fear, 
envy, lust, the desire for physical fame 
and gain and am ready and eager to 
reach my hand in love and service to 
every creature.” 


140 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Try it. There is no creed in it, no 
hypocrisy, form or cant, it is just con¬ 
trolling the individual appetites and tend¬ 
encies of the physical life. This done, 
individual freedom is gained. No man 
will ever be happy or religious until he 
can look upon the “ Least of these ” as a 
part of the whole. No one can ever ful¬ 
fill the law of love until he can control 
every tempestuous desire. These desires 
are not to be crucified and buried, but 
transmuted into a new force that are al¬ 
ways on guard. Controlled desire is the 
love that meets the destructive forces of 
physical life face to face and bids them 
serve in the Master’s Cause. All desires, 
impulses and appetites are a part of the 
daily life of man and there is the need to 
meet them day by day and hour by hour, 
until love has been written over all. The 
real unfailing force of life is love, it is the 
irradiation from the infinite to the finite. 
Use it as a tool in the Master’s vineyard; 
for it is the sunbeam that never darkens. 
To put more of this sunshine into the 
world, more joy and more peace to all 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


141 


men, is to live after the manner of the 
Christ life. “ Verily I say unto you, till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one 
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, 
till all be fulfilled.” 

Loving God and man is fulfilling the 
law; what will this law do? It will con¬ 
trol the down-tearing tendencies and make 
life clean; it will make eveiy act a service 
to some member of the human family; it 
will make the individual a soldier in the 
real battle of life. When law is ful¬ 
filled, then comes the next principle: he 
who controls the bodily desires, tenden¬ 
cies and appetites will understand that 
blessed indeed are they who are humble. 
No egotistic frailty will have a place in 
the individual life. To make the body a 
worthy habitation for the life that is of 
God, the criticism, persecution, unjust ac¬ 
cusations, coldness and scorn of others 
must be met with peace. Repress and con¬ 
trol the bodily life until pleasure and pain 
can be met on the same plane. Until the 
contentious things of life are conquered 
the individual is not ready to enter into 


142 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


heaven, but, when egotism, sensitiveness, 
anger, false pride and the desire for phys- 
ical power have been conquered, heaven's 
door will swing open and that life that is 
of God be known. Christ said, “ The 
kingdom of God is within you.” It was 
a law He came to teach to man. “Blessed 
are the pure in heart: for they shall see 
God.” “ Blessed are they which are 
persecuted for righteousness* sake: for 
their* s is the kingdom of heaven.’* Blessed 
are they who transform the physical tend¬ 
encies and desires from crude things, to 
expressions of the divine force of love: 
for by so doing they are learning the law 
of God. Christ taught the simple laws 
of God by precept and example. “ He 
spoke the Word ” and healed all man’s 
infirmities. He gave the light of knowl¬ 
edge to those who were hemmed in by the 
desolate blackness of ignorance; He raised 
the fallen by touching them; He cast out 
devils and cleansed the lepers. Through 
it all He was preaching of the kingdom 
that all might know, for it is at hand in 
love and service to all who will turn to it. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


143 


The Christ direction is—go into all the 
world and say to every one: “ Be ye 
sure of this that the Kingdom of God, 
has come nigh unto you ” for the individ¬ 
ual work in hand is to make all men un¬ 
derstand that which to them has seemed 
a far off presence is an internal possession, 
when they have turned from the service 
of mammon to the service of God. Within 
each bodily house God resides, for the 
infinite force that is of God is a part of 
every creature. Each human being can 
earn the right to say, “ God is with me ;— 
God is my expression, my power,” just 
as soon as he makes his body a fit taber¬ 
nacle for the service of God. Hear again 
the Master’s words: “One jot or one 
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, 
till all be fulfilled.” Mankind must 
know by experience that this means to be 
a part of the divine force of love. 

All have heard the wails around a 
death bed; and have listened to the lam¬ 
entations of those who are worrying, 
about where their loved ones have gone. 
It is indeed pitiful for it means a lack of 


144 Jesus of Nazareth . 

knowledge of eternal life, and of God. 
The law exemplified by Christ teaches, 
where love is there is abundant life, death 
has no terror and the grave no sting. Life 
is as continuous as the sun, and grows 
brighter day by day, the more fully it is 
realized. Death is just a transition from 
a lower to a higher state in the law of 
continuity. Thus they who fear and 
dread the approach of death know only 
the fleeting semblance and not the real 
life. Any one can know the real by being 
willing to live the life of love in peace, 
or when unjustly talked about; and by 
being willing to serve all, even those who 
persecute and revile—not because of duty 
but because of the sincere, intense love for 
all men. It means turning the other cheek, 
for he who loves much will give peace, 
but will not enter into contention. 

It is not a difficult thing to look death 
in the face after the need is pointed out. 
Even when sentence of death has been 
pronounced those prepared for the ordeal 
by due notice, have met it with stoicism. 
The body can be trained to meet things 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


145 


of this kind, but it is most difficult to train 
the body to meet the tempestuous things 
of daily life that come unawares and 
sweep the individual off his feet. This is 
what the Christ follower must do. There¬ 
fore, meet anger with peace, falseness 
with truth, doubt with confidence, hate 
and persecution with love, egotism with 
humbleness. The man who can meet all 
human frailties that touch the bodily life 
with sudden force, as a shaft of lightning, 
in peace is ready and qualified to enter 
into God’s realm. 

“Blessed is he that cometh in the name 
of the Lord.” Who is he? Any one 
who does the work required by Christ of 
His followers. The one who heals the 
sick, casts out devils and preaches the 
kingdom of God bears the credential 
given by the Father which is in heaven. 
“He who is not with me is against me.” 
“ Believe me that I am in the Father, and 
the Father in me; or else believe me for 
the very work’s sake.” " Verily, verily, 
I say unto you. He that believeth on Me, 
the works that I do shall he do also; and 


146 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


greater works than these shall he do.” 

All the Apostles did the work exem¬ 
plified by Christ. Paul healed the sick, 
cast out devils and preached the kingdom 
of God. Peter did these self-same works. 
So did John, Luke, Mark, Matthew, 
Barnabas, Alexander, Stephen. Every 
Apostle healed the sick, cast out devils, 
preached the kingdom of God and the 
signs of the Christian followed them. This 
power was manifested by each one, be¬ 
cause it is man’s unfailing right to reveal 
the power of God and create harmony out 
of discord. He must put to the test of 
experience the laws taught by Christ and 
render loving service to God and his fel¬ 
low men. 

Religion is a dead thing when it does 
not give the experience of the Christ life. 
It is of no avail when it does not comply 
with the Master’s command. There is 
no reason in earth or heaven for saying 
one portion of Christ’s teaching is true and 
another false; or to say His crucifixion 
on the cross was the way of man’s salva¬ 
tion, and not the life Christ exemplified. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


147 


It was not Christ’s crucifixion, but His life 
that opened heaven’s door to man. Un¬ 
derstand the law of love and do the bid¬ 
ding of that law. There is no compromise 
between the true and the false; therefore 
if the Christ religion is to be the means of 
saving man, it is by the laws He taught. 
Any rule of mathematics is only of in¬ 
dividual worth when made practical by 
use. So the worth of the Christ laws, is to 
put them to the test of daily, aye, hourly 
living in love and service to all men and 
thus know by the law of individual mathe¬ 
matical experience. If The power of 
God is within you,” find it. Test the laws 
by taking them into the heart, and express 
them in the work of the moment, to all 
mankind. 

Of what avail is it to bow the head to 
a far-off, unknown and unlocated God 
when the Master said, “ The kingdom of 
God is within you?” Every Apostle 
taught of the heaven that is at hand to all. 
Each one exemplified that “ God is love.” 
The Master declared, “ One jot or one 
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, 


148 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


till all be fulfilled.” To understand the 
law of God is to get down to the use of 
it; for that is the only way in which it 
can be known. Do not presume to ride 
into heaven on the shoulders of another, 
for the way of entrance is by the merit of 
individual work accomplished and not a 
vicarious atonement. 

Stephen is used for the purpose of 
showing that the law does go on and on 
and is at hand to all who truly turn to it. 
Stephen was a pious man, pious because 
he had purified the bodily appetites and 
desires until he had written master over 
them all. He did not wear a sanctimoni¬ 
ous face and hypocrite’s garb; he was a 
fighter who had met and conquered the 
physical things of life. Where hate had 
been he had planted love; he had changed 
fear to bravery; and he had replaced the 
false with the true. He had marked the 
throbbing, contentious things of physical 
life with complacency and knew, without 
doubt, that he was close to the kingdom 
of God. Stephen,—entered into the ex¬ 
perience of “ The kingdom of God.” 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


149 


Stephen was a pious man. He was 
known for his goodness and integrity. To 
him it was given to supply food, raiment 
and shelter for the multitude who were 
following the cross. The greater portion 
of the world of men think the cross is a 
symbol of Catholicism;. This is not true; 
for the early followers of Christ imprinted 
the sign of the cross upon the empire of 
Rome. After these early Christians;— 
who healed the sick, cast out devils, and 
preached the kingdom of God, had hon¬ 
eycombed Rome with the Christ religion, 
Constantine was given charge of the 
church, and from that time to this there 
has been cant, creed, oppression, hypo¬ 
crisy and man-made tradition. The cross 
as a symbol is as old as the race of man, 
it belongs to no color, race or creed. It 
is found in Egypt, Persia, Chaldea and 
India, and always indicates the same 
thing:—that of addition or plus. 

It is used as a symbol of light and life, 
and also as a tortuous means of death;— 
as if to say, “ By your very symbol we 
shall crucify you.” Thus it became in 


150 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


time the means of execution; but never 
has it lost its symbolic meaning of plus, and 
stands for the living equasion, plus either 
life or death. Christ was crucified on the 
cross, and this incident with the well 
known meaning of the symbol;—meaning 
plus,—made it a characteristic emblem of 
the Apostolic followers to indicate that 
through death there is more abundant life. 
Stephen crystalized it into the sign of the 
Christian and laid upon it the true mean¬ 
ing of salvation, separating entirely from 
the previously conceived ideas of the Jews 
as a means to the kingdom of God. 

Bear well in mind that the cross did 
not originate with the early Christians, but 
had long before the Christian era a univer¬ 
sal meaning of plus. A white cross has 
always meant the super-man, or the tran¬ 
scendent power of God in man. It means 
God—plus. White is the symbol of 
purity, and has always been used to sig¬ 
nify spiritual life, or the super-man prin¬ 
ciple. 

The black cross has always meant the 
desire man—plus, that is, man desiring 


l Jesus of Nazareth. 


151 


God, or man—plus. Black is the symbol 
of matter and has always been used to 
symbolize that which decays. Thus the 
white cross is God realized, and the black 
cross God desired. Both are symbols of 
the destiny of man: the latter indicating 
that the body will die, and that there is 
something to be desired beyond the body 
life. The former indicating that God is 
present, and that the realization of the 
Divine principle is the real life. 

It is what man has attained and not 
the color, or cross, that counts. If he be¬ 
lieves in God, in realization, in the king¬ 
dom within, then he may wear the cross of 
his choice; but he must not confound the 
cross with his growth, or make of it a 
symbol of fetish to worship. Moreover 
he must not think that it is the symbol that 
heals the sick, casts out devils or preaches 
the kingdom of God; for these things that 
are the “Signs of the Christian can only 
be accomplished in “ My Father’s name.” 

So Stephen was a pious man. He 
prayed all the time, and his prayer was 
the intense desire to do the will of God. 


152 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Christ said, “ Pray without ceasing.” 
Pray by taking every frailty of individual 
life to the altar of love and service until 
the body is free from taint, then “ What¬ 
soever ye shall ask in My name, that will 
I do.” That is prayer. The Pharisees 
have another kind of prayer—the one of 
much speaking and little doing. It is the 
prayer of syntax and rhetoric. It is not 
the prayer of Christ or of any of the other 
masters. It is not the prayer of action. 
The one used ceaselessly by Stephen was 
healing the sick, casting out devils and 
preaching the kingdom of God; the one 
of making others understand all human 
weaknesses must respond to prayer. Such 
was the prayer Stephen used without ceas¬ 
ing—the prayer of intense desire to do the 
Master’s bidding—and although he be¬ 
came an Apostle a number of years after 
the death of Christ, the wonderful works 
he did, were the same Christ exemplified. 

When Stephen was asked by the Jews 
why he blasphemed against the church, 
his defence was the greatest ever made by 
man. He pictured their work of perse- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


153 


cution from its very beginning. He told 
how Joseph, because of envy, was sold 
into slavery. In their effort to destroy 
Moses all the male children under two 
years of age were put to death. Every 
one who received divine inspiration from 
God was followed by their persecution. 
When at last the Just and Perfect One 
came, He, too, was met on the very 
threshold of life and crushed. “ You 
have been murderers throughout;” and 
this persecution of the divinely inspired, 
pictured so truly by Stephen in his de¬ 
fense, has followed down to this very day 
and hour. Any one who carries the 
parchment of Christ so that all may see; 
—he who heals the sick, casts out devils 
and preaches the kingdom of God,—will 
find those who seek to compel obedience 
to cant, hypocrisy, creed and man-made 
customs. Those who refuse to turn from 
the Master’s bidding are thrust on the out¬ 
skirts of life by the priests, pharisees and 
arbiters of society and stoned, vilified and 
crucified. Then, in after years, the 
church will resurrect the name of the one 


154 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


they have martyred and write over it 
“ Saint.” It was that way with the early 
followers of Christ; it was that way with 
Joan of Arc; it has been that way 
throughout the ages past. 

Stephen gave his life to the Master’s 
Cause. He wrote the word for those who 
came after, “ I have found the way for 
all to follow who would know the king¬ 
dom that is within man.” Blessed are 
they who can say to the least of these, 
“ Come, the kingdom is prepared for 
you.” Blessed are they who have earned 
the right to say to the weak, “Come, there 
is joy in heaven for you.” Blessed is he 
who can preach the kingdom of God. 
This Stephen did. He prayed without 
ceasing. Persecuted and stoned, his 
words were, “ Lord, lay not this sin to 
their charge.” “ And when he had said 
this, he fell asleep.” 


Chapter IX. 


JAMES. 

I N the first chapter of the Epistle of 
James from the 22nd to the 25th verse 
will be found this: “ But be ye doers 
of the word, and not hearers only, de¬ 
ceiving your own selves. For if any be a 
hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is 
like unto a man beholding his natural face 
in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and 
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth 
what manner of man he was.” The sec¬ 
ond statement to gain an understanding 
of is given in the last portion of the second 
chapter, beginning with the 17th verse. 
Then turn to the 3rd chapter and read 
from the 13th verse to the end of the 
chapter. 

The Epistle of James is rather short 
compared to the records given by the oth¬ 
ers, but in it is contained the direct law 
of faith expressed in works; and whether 
155 


156 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


it was written by James the Apostle or, 
as some declare, by James, the brother of 
Christ, matters not. 

In the Apostle’s time—the period of 
the oppression of Christianity—those 
working in the Master’s Cause were held 
in disdain. Christ’s followers were count¬ 
ed in exceedingly small numbers; and to 
be a disciple Was not considered an honor 
by either Jew or Gentile. Therefore 
Apostolic knowledge is wrapped in mys¬ 
tery, doubt, tradition, superstition and 
bigotry that naturally, later followed in 
the building of a colossal church. 

There was James, the son of Zebedee, 
James, the son of Alpheus, James, the 
brother of Christ, and one other, all work¬ 
ers in the Cause of Christ. It is supposed 
that Christ had four brothers—James, 
Joses, Judas and Simon. These were the 
sons of Mary and Joseph. Two of these 
four became Apostles, but at a later date 
than those known as the twelve Apostles. 
These brothers of Christ became His fol¬ 
lowers because of the fact that they were 
capable of seeing this Master, who did the 


Jesus of Nazareth. 157 

wonderful works of God, was greater than 
the physical house in which He lived. 

The Apostles expressed the Master’s 
teachings from different angles. The 
angle from which James taught was pa¬ 
tience, long suffering, humility and sta¬ 
bility. He taught that arrogance is not 
the road leading to God; and is not trav¬ 
eled by contention, worldly wisdom, or by 
hypocrisy that ends in, “I am holier than 
thou.” He condemned the creeds, cants 
and ” Ism ” that were based on desire. 
He taught faith was not gained by the 
mere acceptance of words, but by work. 
“ Be ye doers of the word, and not hear¬ 
ers only, deceiving your own selves.” 
“Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, 
being alone.” 

At first thought it would seem that 
James’ teaching was a direct denial of 
Paul’s declaration of faith. Yet this is 
not true; for in both James and Paul are 
found the same essentials necessary to this 
wondrous acceptance of God. “ Faith 
is belief;” that is to say, the acceptance 
of things is apart from individual knowl- 


158 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


edge. In Corinthians it is found that 
patience, humility, purity of heart, strength 
of purpose and gifts to men make a special 
form of acceptance of faith. Then Paul 
declared that greater than the faith of 
hope was charity; for “ Though I have 
all faith so I could remove mountains, and 
have not charity, I am nothing. Charity 
suffereth long and is kind;” it does not 
envy and it has no false pride; it does not 
seek its own; it is not easily provoked; it 
thinks no evil; it rejoices in the truth; it 
endures all things and never fails. So 
it is readily seen, there is no difference in 
the teachings of Paul and James when 
facts are accepted, and there is a turning 
away from quibbles. The ordinary way, 
is to accept faith as belief; that is, accept¬ 
ance is apart from knowledge. So the 
world has reason to doubt any one who is 
not doing the works of Christ, for to have 
faith is to be justified by works. The 
Master declared that faith is the creator 
of works and that the expression of faith 
is by humility, patience, long suffering, 
gentleness and stability. The demonstra- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


159 


tion of faith is only worth while when it 
builds things that carry the individual to 
God. Truly then, faith is justified by 
works. 

Study the word of James—who states 
that by works, faith is made perfect, and 
without works faith is dead. Then realize 
that it behooves every human being to 
seek an understanding of faith by experi¬ 
ence, that will do the work. Know what 
Christ meant when He said, not only to 
the few gathered about Him, but to all 
the multitude of men and women who 
have come since then, “ O ye of little 
faith.” In all the multitude of men only 
a few have justified faith by their works, 
and while these few have performed mar¬ 
velous works that have transformed their 
lives into mighty expressions of God, the 
world sleeps, or does not care to know. 
It were as well to say Christ did not mean 
His statements of love as to say there is 
justification in faith without works. It 
were as well to say Christ did not mean 
the command He gave to His followers, 
” Preach the kingdom of God,” if it is 


160 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


justifiable to say, faith is dead and it can 
not be done here and now. 

So religion in its truth and fulness, 
means that each one personally must un¬ 
derstand and use concrete facts, putting 
them to the test of experience. “If ye 
have faith the size of a grain of mustard 
seed ye shall say to yon mountain, be thou 
removed into the sea and it shall be 
moved.” Nature teaches the way by 
ceaselessly working and always waiting; 
cycles upon cycles come and go, seasons 
follow one after the other with regularity 
and exactitude, aeons follow aeons;—all 
because nature works her mighty course 
for a little moment of completion. The 
completed moment is the epoch of great 
achievements. The one moment of the 
cycles gone before. So the way of pro¬ 
gress is not by the worry of years gone, 
but by the abiding of the soul in patience 
until it breaks through the body restric¬ 
tions and knows God. 

“How can I be saved?” Just as others 
have been, for all have journeyed the same 
road to salvation. Divinity is always the 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


161 


same,—so there is no difference in the 
manner of attainment. Pure religion and 
undefiled is to do the works of patience, 
long suffering, humility, charity and love. 
By these control is gained over the phys¬ 
ical being that will make it an expression 
of the works of God. 

No one can guage the strength of the 
individual appetites except the possessor; 
so, likewise, no one knows how difficult it 
is, to control the impulse to evade the 
truth, save the one tempted. All are 
Peters, with a firm resolution to maintain 
steadfast, only to deny. So constantly 
follows the denying little things day by 
day. Do they hurt? Essentially they 
may not, but there is the possibility of 
their leading to subterfuges that will mar 
the perspective of eternal life. They do 
not hurt the person they are intended to 
deceive, but they do mark the plastic con¬ 
dition of life in a way to keep it from Gpd. 
In this do not confound essential facts 
with immaterial things. The long face, 
belonging to one who thinks the outside 
form means inside life is not the way of 


162 Jesus of Nazareth. 


righteousness, or the way of making sacred 
the acts of daily life. What the Christ 
follower needs is the fountain of joy that 
bubbles from the center of being outward 
with sparkling clearness; the passer-by will 
realize this joy as a possession of such vital 
worth that all other things will be as chaff 
in comparison. No one can express love 
while hate abides in his heart. No one 
can give peace until peace is possessed. 
Neither is it possible to speak as brother 
to brother until there is the absolute 
knowledge that all are of one common 
kin;—those of high degree and the crowd 
of suffering humanity, with bodies tor¬ 
tured and cramped by oppression, are all 
alike, the difference is in the outer form, 
and not in the life within. Truly he \vho 
is a respector of persons can not justify his 
faith by works. All humanity are seek¬ 
ing God and sometime each will touch the 
faith that is made perfect by the daily 
works. The time must come when equal¬ 
ity will be written on the page of every 
life and all be banded in the one great 
Brotherhood of Love. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


163 


There is no palliating line between the 
oppressed and the oppressor. Christ 
meant to go to all mankind—not to the 
Jew only, or the Pharisee or the priest. 
He said, “ Go ye to all the world.” It 
means to put to the test of experience the 
simple laws of God so they will be indi¬ 
vidually known. It means to make the 
hands clean by serving all men, to make 
the heart pure by loving every human 
being, and continuously to express faith, 
in works. 

Oh, there is much to do in the under¬ 
standing of faith. There is indeed much 
to learn of patience, humility, long suf¬ 
fering and the maintaining of continuous 
effort. The way is long to the place 
where it is possible to know what the body 
can and can not do. The body is lim¬ 
ited; but within it is centered an infinite, 
eternal life that is not limited. To know 
this truth there is need only to watch the 
consecrated;—those who have laid hold 
of the faith exemplified by Christ and His 
Apostles, in their work among men. Do 
not try to analyze the work accomplished 


164 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


from the basis of physical limitations. 
Ask, “ Whence does the force come?” 
If it comes from above its expression is 
in peace, long suffering, purity and gen¬ 
tleness; it is merciful, impartial and with¬ 
out hypocrisy. If it comes from the phys¬ 
ical side of life it is expressed in hate, 
back biting, discontent, malice and con¬ 
tention. So it is readily understood how 
a man is justified by works and not by 
faith only. Let man look into his heart 
and write there the Peace which knows 
no caste, creed, cult or social distinctions, 
that has only the desire to serve. 

Faith in its perfection, will be known 
by those who have found Peace, which 
surpasseth human understanding. They 
will know it when it changes the discord¬ 
ant tendencies of their lives into the har¬ 
mony that means one-ness with God. 
They will know it when Peace reaches 
out to others its hands of love, and leads 
the ignorant, the depraved and sore dis¬ 
tressed into the way of understanding life. 
That was James’ manner of living. Do as 
he did and there will be no longer any 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


165 


desire to quibble about the laws of God. 

The Pharisees, knowing James’ pro¬ 
bity, were certain that when questioned 
he would give a strict account of the life 
of Christ. They knew strong ecclesias¬ 
tical followers of Judaism had turned to 
the cause of Christ, they knew Paul had 
been taken from them, but they felt James 
would give them evidence with which they 
could destroy Christianity. When the 
Scribes and Pharisees appealed to him, 
James testified of the divinity of Christ 
crucified. He confessed that faith justi¬ 
fied by works lifted man up from sin and 
decay to life infinite and everlasting. He 
confessed the raising of the dead was ac¬ 
complished by the power of peace. More 
than this, he confessed there was a fellow¬ 
ship not limited by caste or restrictions of 
any kind, and still more than this;—he 
confessed that the Jews were not the only 
people of God, for the Gentiles and the 
publicans had souls as well as they. He 
confessed that the way of salvation was 
free to all men; each living soul, when 
baptized with the fire of the Holy Ghost 


166 Jesus of Nazareth. 

—in proportion to his realization—would 
be master of the body. Then the Scribes 
and Pharisees said: “ This one from 

whom we thought to get evidence against 
Christianity has betrayed us. There is 
only one way to deal with him, and that is 
to stone him to death.” 

By James’ work and by his power the 
very man who accused him became con¬ 
vinced of the truth and, confessing his be¬ 
lief in Christ, was condemned to death 
with James. There is no greater evidence 
of the faith justified by works than that 
given by this one man. On their way to 
the fulfillment of the death sentence, he 
who had been the accuser asked James 
for his forgiveness. The latter, turning 
to him, kissed him with the holy kiss, 
Paul speaks of, and said, “ Peace be to 
you.” That is the test of faith. It is the 
exemplifying the law, ” Love your ene¬ 
mies, bless them that curse you, do good 
to them that hate you and pray for them 
which despitefully use you, and persecute 
you.” 

The body will die. Every one will 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


167 


find, even before death claims the body, 
one function after another falling into dis¬ 
use. Not so with the life divine, for as 
the body grows old and the functions of 
life become weary, the life that has used 
this earthly habitation grows stronger, the 
principle of faith becomes an established 
factor and realization is gained that the 
promises of Christ, are eternal truths. 
Comprehending this more and more, the 
love principle grows stronger and the un¬ 
derstanding becomes clearer that the im¬ 
pulses of youth must be placed in the 
smelting pot of experience and changed 
into forces manifesting the works of eternal 
life. Before it is possible to say Peace 
and have it expressed in a love realization, 
the impulses of hate must be stilled. Be¬ 
fore it is possible to give courage and 
strength to the weak and sorrowing, the 
body must be tranquil and vital. When 
the heart is full of love and the body cap¬ 
able of expressing the Peace that comes 
from the divine, then will the veil of sor¬ 
row be lifted from all who are living in 
the shadows. Justify faith, by works that 


168 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


are full of mercy, charity and love that is 
without partiality; and strengthen the 
body until it is possible to say, “ My peace 
I give unto you.” If the “ My ” is to be 
a potent fire that will enter into every life 
and serve every one, there must be a for¬ 
getfulness of caste, class and social dis¬ 
tinctions; for there can be no respecting 
of persons, by him who would love his 
neighbor as himself. 

The infinite principle of Peace acquired 
means possession of power to say with the 
Christ force, “ I love.” It means the 
power attained to say, “ Come ye weary 
and heavy laden,” come ye who are 
broken, and “ I will give you rest.” He 
who after a wakeful night with body tor¬ 
tured or with troubled mind, has experi¬ 
enced relief in peaceful sleep knows what 
rest means. Rest is a blotting out of all 
contentious things; it is freedom from fear, 
worry, pain and care. To feel the sting 
of poverty until life appears like a deso¬ 
late barren waste, and then suddenly to 
be placed where joyousness and plenty is, 
means to experience rest. The religion of 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


169 


the Apostles means rest, joy, love and 
realization of the power of Peace. James 
possessed himself in patience, humility 
and long suffering; for by these works was 
his faith justified: he forgave, even as he 
died. 


Chapter X. 


NATHANAEL. 


HE gist of this subject is given in the 



A 1st chapter of St. John, beginning 
with the 45th verse: “Philip findeth 
Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have 
found Him of whom Moses in the Law, 
and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of 
Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Na¬ 
thanael said unto him, Can there any good 
thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said 
unto him. Come and see. Jesus saw 
Nathanael coming to Him, and saith unto 
him. Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom 
is no guile! Nathanael saith unto Him, 
Whence knowest thou me? Jesus an¬ 
swered and said unto hhn, Before that 
Philip called thee, when thou wast under 
the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael an¬ 
swered and saith unto him. Rabbi, thou 
art the son of God; thou art the King of 
Israel. Jesus answered and said unto 


170 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


171 


him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee 
under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou 
shalt see greater things than these. And 
He said unto him. Verily, verily, I say 
unto you. Hereafter ye shall see heaven 
open, and the angels of God ascending 
and descending upon the Son of Man.” 

In the Apostolic Masters one concep¬ 
tion after another is given of the sub¬ 
liminal in man. Love was exemplified by 
John. Peter gave the example of intense 
devotion to duty. Matthew was possessed 
of a marvelous recording power. Mark’s 
life pictured the giving God’s message 
one to another. James gave faith. Paul 
gave intuitional greatness. So that each 
Apostle had a special work. Attention 
is now directed to Bartholomew (also 
known as Nathanael) who opened the 
door of understanding from objectivity 
into knowledge of God. Remember there 
is no royal road, save work, to open the 
way of divine realization. The ordinary 
way of speaking of growth as spontaneous 
is just the trickery of those who have not 
yet arrived at truth. They say, “ I do 


172 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


know.” Aye, knowledge is limited to 
attainment. When there is no attainment, 
it is known just how limited and illusion¬ 
ary psuedo knowledge is. Christ did 
know whereof He spoke, for His works 
proved His assertions. So, too, can all 
men have accurate knowledge by the di¬ 
rect law of experience. Therefore, in 
dealing with the hidden and latent in man, 
the experience of the individual is worth 
more than all vain assertions. 

Most declarations of divine or super¬ 
human gifts are the pretensions of the 
charlatan, still this does not nulify “Gifts.” 
Listen, the Master’s saying, “ When thou 
wast under the fig tree, I saw thee,” is an 
open declaration of understanding things 
hidden. It is to see that which is impos¬ 
sible to perceive with physical eyes, and 
hear that which can not be discerned by 
physical ears; it is to know that which is 
impossible to sense with objective under¬ 
standing. “ Before that Philip called 
thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I 
saw thee.” Such clairvoyance is the pos¬ 
session of one who has so united the per- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


173 


sonal life with the Infinite, that he can 
direct the subjective mind where he wills 
and become the Knower and Seer. The 
plastic mind, being in unity to the 
Knower, will record accurately the object 
of contemplation. Thus Christ did see 
Nathanael standing under the fig tree 
though He was many miles distant. 

Many have heard of clairvoyance and 
laughed at the idea of its truth. Still it is 
one of God’s rich gifts to man. Like all 
rich gifts, it is subjected at times to ill 
usage. So it is sometimes found to be the 
asset of the medium, fortune teller or 
psychic without regard to spiritual in¬ 
formation. Notwithstanding the claim of 
clarivoyance, there is a vast difference in 
the form used, and the clear seeing of the 
Master Mind, who has made the objective 
life subservient to the one subliminal. 
Only the pure in heart can be of this 
clairvoyance; those who are non-resistant 
to the spiritual force of life and who turn 
the other cheek to receive, that the law 
may be justified; who will go two miles 
when asked to go one, and who take no 


174 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


second coat or script when carrying the 
Christ message to man. Clear seeing be¬ 
longs to the Godly man who is teaching 
the law of love and service by precept 
and example. 

It is easy to live this life; and to sub¬ 
due the passions and desires;—after lust, 
contention, anger, covetousness and all 
physical modifications of the mind have 
been overcome. It is not easy before or 
when uncertain as to the path, that will 
lead to light and understanding. The 
greater portion of the human family have 
not taken time to discover, that the objec¬ 
tive life, is not all there is to know; for 
the average man will say, “I hope I have a 
chance in heaven;” or, “ I wish it were 
really possible to know that life continues 
beyond the grave.” He trembles, fears, 
doubts and hesitates at the brink of the 
grave; for the place on this side of the 
grave where he lingers, is the dark lake he 
can not cross because he has not yet sensed 
the life eternal. Every one knows that 
the body is constantly changing; and that 
the physical form that is now the com- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


175 


ponent whole is not the sakne body of a 
few years ago, for it varies as the atoms 
change. This fact is known generally; 
yet man hates to study the simple material 
things that are the means to super-normal 
gifts leading to an understanding of God. 

The essential to clairvoyance is free¬ 
dom from modifying influences, which are 
the natural body inheritance. Thus 
should ability to control appetite, desire 
and mental impulse be made a rule of life 
action. The one who can do so will have 
the power to see clearly at any distance. 
There is no special gift in it, it is just the 
result of eliminating one life phase, and 
building another in its place. Control the 
appetites and desires by following the ex¬ 
ample of love and service given by the 
Master. Love without ceasing. Love so 
forcefully it will reach to every creature. 
Love so truly the body will be subject to 
service. Love so that every tendency of 
anger, hate, greed, lust and egotism will 
be abated and over them all will be writ¬ 
ten—service. There is not a tendency in 
the heart or an impulse of the mind that 


176 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


can not be made subject to control. To 
control means a continuous growth from 
an inert physical condition to the realiza¬ 
tion of the life that is of God, an eternal 
development, that like that of the plant, 
is going silently onward to completion. 
To control the body life necessitates 
learning the lesson of sacrifice and renun¬ 
ciation, and to these must be added silence. 
No one (on God’s green earth) can hold 
the body obedient to control, while they 
are forcing the brain along tumultous lines 
of thinking and talking, about things that 
are of no concern. 

No one can be a Master until the ex¬ 
ample of the Master Christ is followed. 
He went at least a stone’s throw from all 
others and was silent. Is the growth of 
the plant or tree heard? Then it is well 
for the individual to emulate nature and 
grow by the eternal law of silence wherein 
there is nought,—save God. Love is not 
expressed in noise and is always potent 
in the silence of service. Love without 
caring whether or not others are in the 
same attitude. To love only when love 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


177 


is returned, is to want caresses and words 
of praise so that the physical ego may 
feel it is a great thing. This is but the de¬ 
sire self imitating love in asking to be 
placed upon a mountain that others may 
worship at its shrine. Christ said:—“God 
alone must I love and Him only serve.” 
To follow this means to do as Christ did— 
extend love to every creature, recognizing 
no color, caste or distinctions of any kind, 
and seeing in all humanity only the soul 
struggling to return home. To help the 
soul’s return is to make the body an ac¬ 
ceptable servant in the Master’s Cause. 
Do this, and sometime there will come the 
individual experience of realization of the 
kingdom, “ That is nigh unto you.” At- 
one-ment with this kingdom yields the 
knowledge that the body is not the master 
life, but just a receptacle, or a transcient 
place of abode in which the life that is of 
God does dwell during the span of earth 
existence. 

As the material vehicle becomes obedi¬ 
ent to the life within, the power of seeing 
without eyes and hearing without ears, or 


178 Jesus of Nazareth. 


of healing the sick, casting out devils and 
preaching the kingdom of God will fall 
as a mantle from on high. Then with the 
ears of understanding the Master’s voice 
will be heard saying, “ You shall see the 
angels of God ascending and descending.” 

Man talks so much about a heavenly 
life which is to be experienced after death, 
when heaven is at hand now and angels 
are all about. This is universally accepted 
and has been known as true to every Mas¬ 
ter. Pythagoras told his followers there 
were men who had so mastered the phys¬ 
ical life they had become semi-gods, mas¬ 
ter minds, and had attained to the power 
of seeing accurately at any distance with 
a clear sight that was not physical. These 
men were angels and archangels. Buddha 
spoke to his disciples of those master minds 
who sought to help men attain to a state 
of receptivity, called by him Samadhi, a 
state of mind, wherein angels would lead 
them to an understanding of life’s higher 
forces. Christ put it in this wise: “Here¬ 
after ye shall see heaven open, and the 
angels of God ascending and descending 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


179 


upon the son of man.” Thus is mortal 
man made conscious of super-man and 
when the experience of seeing a Philip or 
a Nathanael from a distance of many 
miles comes, then belief will be swallowed 
up in knowledge of the eternal life, that 
Christ said, “ Is within you.” 

It is the experience of one who has for 
many years healed the sick, cast out 
devils and preached the kingdom of God, 
that intense negation, wherein the body is 
at rest, is necessary to see patients. This 
negation when attained must be free from 
desire and then, the patients, though many 
miles may intervene, can be a part of the 
mental discernment. Not of the mind 
that is concrete and material but of the 
spiritual life that is within. This is be¬ 
cause the physical is amenable to the God 
principle, the body being in abeyance, 
while no diverting modifications or de¬ 
stroying influence do not reach the plastic 
mind, and it records as a messenger of 
God. 

The upside and the downside of life 
are the same, the difference being the one 


180 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


of direction. Likewise the difference be¬ 
tween physical darkness and spiritual 
light is that of understanding. So as man 
or superman, the need is to protect the 
body from evil and accept the good. 
Change the forces of hate, doubt, conten¬ 
tion, lust and fear that lead to darkness, 
to love, confidence, peace, purity and 
courage that lead to spiritual light. There 
is no need for man to fear. He has only 
to put on the armor and carry the shield 
of truth to be free from all danger. Go 
where truth leads and as it is found hold 
it fast. This will not lead the individual 
to form, creed, dogjna or man-made tra¬ 
dition; but will lead to the prayer of do¬ 
ing and living as the Master directs. To 
attain this truth is to love God with all 
thy heart, soul, mind and strength and 
thy neighbor as thyself. By an actual 
practice it will be experienced, that as the 
body life is held in abeyance, and the real 
life comes to serve; the principle given to 
Nathanael, will be known to be the prin¬ 
ciple of life. 

Nathanael was an Israelite, which in 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


181 


itself means a pure man. Christ was a 
Nazarene, an absolutely pure life. The 
harmony of the one was synchronous with 
the other. The two lives becoming at¬ 
one, the vision was the result—because 
they were on the same plane of life. To 
be individually at-one with another hu¬ 
man being, is to place the body in negation 
by holding the appetites and desires sub¬ 
dued, and if that other, too, is meditating 
at the same time, it will be possible to 
have the same experience that was given 
to Nathanael. Nathanael realized the 
greatness of the Master’s power immedi¬ 
ately, because no one knew he was under 
the fig tree at that time. Upon his imme¬ 
diate acceptance of this truth a greater 
thing was promised him, “ Verily, verily, 
I say unto you. Hereafter ye shall see 
heaven open, and the angels of God as¬ 
cending and descending upon the son of 
man.” Why from heaven? Because it 
is the principle of God descending. Where 
is heaven? “ Behold the kingdom of God 
is within you.” It means that each one 
is in possession of the company of angels 


182 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


all the time. The reason the angels are 
not recognized is because man thinks too 
much of the desire life and not enough of 
the super-life. 

There is much, so much to do in order 
to know God. The way is to turn from 
mammon to serve Him. It is not possible 
to serve both God and mammon. Either 
one will be hated and the other loved; or 
else one will be held to and the other 
despised. Man can not flitter away his 
birth-right and still retain his inheritance. 
Neither can God’s commands be ignored 
and the kingdom of heaven retained. 

It is a common belief that loved ones 
who have passed through the condition 
called death are around and can be com¬ 
municated with. When this is realized 
freedom is attained from the dread of 
the grave and the fear of destruction; for 
to know by experience there is no death 
is to cease to fear it. Such, do not go 
into the condition of old age with fear, 
neither does the approaching grave bring 
the dread that is almost a screech of pain; 
death is met like a soldier at the post of 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


183 


duty, knowing it is just a transition from 
bodily limitations to a life that is free. 
To have communication with one who 
has crossed to the other side of the grave 
is to know that death does not end life. 
This brings home by experience the un¬ 
derstanding of continuity of life. 

Then comes the real fight of life, mak¬ 
ing this knowledge practical. Many give 
homage to creed and form, and freely 
use the prayer of words and much speak¬ 
ing;—indeed there is much talk about the 
Messenger: but pitifully few listen to the 
message. The world of men are intent 
upon the suffixes and affixes of the words 
of texts, tracing the meaning back to a 
Latin, Greek or Hebrew origin, separat¬ 
ing and denying—when all the time, the 
real principle is to live in the service of 
God. Man finds many ways to evade the 
penalty of unjust acts or the sway of acts 
of degradation, avarice, hate, jealousy 
and greed and thinks that Christ’s death 
upon the cross will save from damnation 
and hell; but this is not the teaching of 
the Master, who said ;—“ By their works 


184 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


ye shall know them.” It is by the individ¬ 
ual life that man measures to others and, 
“ Measure for measure, pressed down and 
running over ” shall be returned unto him, 
is the law. Christ taught the simple law 
of compensation and the law of cause and 
effect. There is no action, good or ill, 
that is not recorded upon the individual 
ledger of life. When man in his actions 
transgresses the law of love, when he lives 
in desire and receives great gain by 
trampling and crushing his brother, when 
he eats the bread of luxury that causes 
others to starve, he is marking these things 
indelibly upon his life’s ledger and some¬ 
time will be forced to balance accounts. 
Christ taught the Brotherhood of man, 
without caste, creed, color or distinctions 
of any kind. This does not mean the 
fanning of appetites or the building of de¬ 
sire. It means to go to God until every 
desire, every down tearing tendency is 
laid upon the altar of love, it means to 
hold the body in leash until the mind is 
master of it and God is known. 

Patanjali declared that if the individual 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


185 


would hold the body in abeyance and 
train the mind by forbearance, restraint, 
attention, contemplation and meditation, 
so it could be changed into the likeness of 
the thing pondered upon, the knower 
would take possession and perfect know¬ 
ledge would be attained. The Christ 
saying is the same. “ Ask, and it shall 
be given you; seek, and ye shall find; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 
But there is a great work of individual 
preparation before this asking is possible. 
To ask while living in the body of ap¬ 
petites and sense desire will be to receive 
no answer to the petition. Going to God’s 
altar with a pure heart, seeking only the 
kingdom that is expressed in service, is 
building the house, not on the shifting 
sand, but on the eternal rock of love. To 
ask then, is always to receive. Do this 
and God will surely be known. It means 
power to be clear seeing to that which it is 
desired to perceive. It is power that is 
revealed unto babes—the pure, clean 
mind — and withheld from the worldly 
wise and prudent. 


186 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


The prudent of the now are the same 
as the Pharisees of old. Their prayers are 
of cold form, a combination of words that 
avail nothing. The temple that should be 
for the use of God is changed into a den 
of money lenders and thieves. Condi¬ 
tions which cause the murder of children 
and oppression and suffering of countless 
numbers of God’s creatures are brought 
about by the same mind that will endow 
churches and distribute religious tracts in 
the slums. Truly the temple can be made 
a place where crimes are rampant and to 
do so is to build upon the fleeting sand of 
physcial existence. The holy ones, the 
semi-gods, the angels and archangels of 
heaven will not be among those of this 
manner of life. Truly, “ By their works 
ye shall know them.” 

In clairvoyance, in spiritualism, in life 
after death, in all subnormal condi¬ 
tions, there is one unfailing law by which 
the true can be separated from the false. 
Pictures that are true are direct, their 
appearance is always the same. Pictures 
of illusion come diversely and are never 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


187 


the same. One is based upon purity and 
truth, and the other on desire. To the 
individual who, heeding the Christ com¬ 
mands, is seeking to hold the body life in 
abeyance to the infinite principle of life 
within, the word “ Master ” will be worth 
while; because he is going through the 
lake of annihilation to the state of God 
consciousness, wherein to know a thing is 
to be at-one with it. Control the body by 
being at-one with all mankind. Love 
every living creature as the self. Learn 
to love the Malay, the Negro, the In¬ 
dian, the Hottentot; learn to love the 
criminal and all conditions of men, not 
their bodies, but the life that is within. 
He who does this truly and completely 
will go to any one of God’s creatures and 
give to them the love that will raise their 
coil of life to the power divine where ser¬ 
vice will take the place of desire for self 
gain. He will speak the Word and heal 
all man’s infirmities. He will cast out 
devils and make the physical house an 
abiding place of love. All the time he 
will preach the kingdom of God and say 


188 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


to those who are near, “ God bless you. 
Heaven is right at hand.” 

It is said that Nathanael was a witness 
to the resurrection and ascension. He was 
known as the “ Sincere man.” He is sup¬ 
posed to have been flayed alive and cruci¬ 
fied with his head down. What ever fate 
he met, he left in the one incident of his 
life, wherein the Saviour commended him, 
a lasting inheritance to man of sincerity as 
a means to Godliness. 


Chapter XI 


JUDAS ISCARIOT. 

T UDAS ISCARIOT betrayed Christ. 
J An account of this is given in the 6th 
chapter of Luke from the 12th verse to 
the 1 7th: “ And it came to pass in those 
days, that He went out into a mountain to 
pray, and continued all night in prayer to 
God. And when it was day He called 
unto Him His disciples, whom He also 
named Apostles; Simon (whom He also 
named Peter) and Andre\v his brother, 
Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and 
Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and 
Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the 
brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, 
which also was the traitor.” 

After selecting these twelve as His 
Apostles, Christ gave the charge to them 
that is found in the 6th chapter from the 
20th to the 39th verse. In the same book 


189 


190 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


of Luke, in the 22nd chapter, is the be¬ 
trayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot. 

Perhaps no portion of the New Testa¬ 
ment is as little studied as that relating to 
Judas Iscariot; yet, in the very making of 
it, his life’s story is infinitely worth while. 
It takes a long time and much study to 
accept Judas as an Apostle of Christ’s, 
and it takes a much longer period to 
realize why it was his treachery was not 
prevented by the Master, who knew of it 
from the first. Christ came to fulfill the 
law, not to overcome it. He came to 
teach the law of love, charity, purity and 
truth, and to give peace to all men. To 
do this meant that He must be at-one with 
all men. To be at-one with all means to 
not see treachery and to ignore caste, 
creed, prejudice and social state. There¬ 
fore, to Judas was given the same confi¬ 
dence, love and tender care as to the other 
Apostles. 

Before selecting the Apostles Christ 
went out to a mountain and continued all 
night in prayer to God. In the morning 
He called His disciples to Him and from 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


191 


their number selected twelve as His 
Apostles. Among them was Judas Is¬ 
cariot, to whom Christ gave the office of 
treasurer, the keeper of the common funds. 
This trust was given because he was an 
economist, farseeing and of good judg¬ 
ment. The one in charge of a common 
purse must be frugal and not a spendthrift; 
he must know the value of money. There¬ 
fore, Christ searched through the twelve 
for one to fill this place and selected Judas 
Iscariot as the one who would best know 
how to prepare the way and supply the 
means of the Apostolic mission. Judas 
Iscariot was the Apostle of prudence, John 
of love, Peter of enthusiasm and devotion, 
Mark because of his master mind. Every 
one for a special purpose as fishers of men, 
and each one was capable of becoming a 
master mind;—a leader of men. 

It is easy, in the ordinary analysis of 
things, to forget real facts. The ordinary 
thought concerning Christ’s laying His 
hands on the lepers and healing them is 
that it was the work of the moment; yet 
the power to accomplish this marvelous 


192 Jesus of Nazareth. 

thing was the result of eighteen years of 
devoted effort. Many there are, who think 
the so-called miracles were the result of 
minutes, yet they were the culmination of 
countless numbers of minutes. There is 
not a skilled mathematician who has not 
spent a long season in mastering the rules 
of number and space. There is not an 
astronomer who has not expended years 
in collaborating with the laws of the uni¬ 
verse in order to become capable of mak¬ 
ing nature’s truths known to man. The 
Master taught only that which was the 
result of the mastery of years gone before. 
His work was not because of special dis¬ 
pensation, or by prayer but as a fulfill¬ 
ment of knowledge. 

During the three years of the Apostles’ 
close association with Christ the wordy 
prayer was not much in use. When He 
prayed He went where He could be 
alone, at least a stone’s throw away from 
all others. Yet the world thinks the 
wordy prayer is essential and the one of 
silence worthless. It is the wordy form 
that is used in all manner of supplications 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


193 


from the most trivial to the healing the 
sick, changing sorrow into joy and curing 
the Nation’s afflictions. The prayer of 
words is to make use of that which is of 
as little avail as sounding brass and the 
tinkling cymbals. Allowing the other fal¬ 
lacy, that prayer is answered in God’s 
way and in His own time; in mysterious 
ways. What is prayer? It is living ac¬ 
cording to the law of love and service so 
earnestly and so directly the very life is 
the acting principle that does the work 
Christ exemplified. Such prayer is an¬ 
swered even as it is uttered. 

If the declaration is made in sincerity, 
“ I want to know life’s truths,” then turn 
the mind backward to the pages upon 
which are recorded the lives of master 
minds, and learn from them what prayer 
is and what it does. It is said that 
Buddha, becoming conscious of the sor¬ 
rows and burdens of those about him, 
stepped over the sleeping bodies of wife 
and child and went out in the world to 
learn of it the cause of the distress and 
suffering among his people. At the end 


194 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


of seven years, having learned all the 
world could give, and knowing he was 
no nearer the truth than before, he went 
into the wilderness and there remained for 
seven more years, seeking to know life in 
its truth and completeness. He made the 
sacrifice of all he held as dear, to know 
the cause of the throbbing woes of those 
close to the earth, and the remedy. After 
years of ceaseless devotion to this purpose 
he gained the realization of the divine 
kingdom within man. Lao-Tsze spent 
years in constant effort to know why all 
things were harmonious in nature, but in 
the life of man all there, was discord, con¬ 
tention, misery and decay. He found 
God, the giver of peace and power In¬ 
finite; was the eternal principle of life 
that emanated from within man; and man 
knew it not. So he gave to the world 
Wu Wee. The worthy leaders of men, 
have each spent years in overcoming 
tempestuous desires and appetites of the 
body life, before attempting to say, “Fol¬ 
low me.’* 

Pythagoras devoted years in endeav- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


195 


oring to know the cause of the phenomena 
of mind and matter. Twelve years he 
gave to this, in Greece. Twenty-six years 
of earnest study and trial in Egypt. Then 
he spent twelve years as a prisoner in 
Persia, sacrificing his life to their petty 
cruelty, letting their arrows, sent with 
stinging intent, fall unnoted as worthless 
chaff. This great master mind raised his 
life above the frail, vain things of bodily 
life to the altitude of spirit, and gave to 
all men the love that is expressed in ser¬ 
vice. Twelve plus twenty-six plus twelve 
were the years spent in attaining. 

Christ said: “I must be about My 
Father’s business.” This, at the age of 
twelve years. From then to thirty are 
years seldom mentioned; yet they must 
have been expended in becoming prepared 
and qualified to lead man to the kingdom 
of God. There were eighteen years de¬ 
voted to the struggle of overcoming ap¬ 
petites, desires and tendencies of the 
body; when at the end of that time the 
Master entered into the wilderness, tak¬ 
ing with Him no shelter, food or raiment 


196 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


—there to do battle with the body for the 
last time. It was the final call to the im¬ 
pulses to halt, that they might have no 
more dominion over Him. So that His 
life, to be prepared to say “ Follow Me,” 
followed in the wake of all experience:— 
Being a long season of preparation in 
order to attain victory over sensuous 
things. 

The Apostles Were selected after a 
night of prayer and they all responded to 
“ Follow Me.” This is the time in the 
life of man that must be reckoned as an 
epoch. The beginning of study, of trial 
and of service; wherein life’s plan has 
been selected. Lao-Tsze took sixty-five 
years for this; Buddha, thirty-nine; 
Pythagoras fifty, and the Christ eighteen. 
All these were master minds, bom of 
high caste and qualified by birth and 
training to do better than ordinary man. 
So it is not to be wondered at, if those of 
lesser force should fail in the manifesting 
of God life, under stress. 

After Christ selected the twelve dis¬ 
ciples as His Apostles He gave to them 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


197 


the annunciation of love and service. Do 
not think this setting them apart from oth¬ 
ers meant they were now healers and 
workers of miracles. They were just 
enrolled, as it were, for personal instruc¬ 
tion and Judas Iscariot *was of this num¬ 
ber. There were five thousand or more 
disciples for the Master to select from; 
they came from all around the sacred 
places where, since, martyrs have died; 
and from among them Judas was, not only 
selected as one of the twelve, but to him 
was given an important post. To Judas, 
as to the others, Christ gave the charge: 
“ Love your enemies, do good to them 
which hate you, bless them that curse you, 
pray for them which despite fully use you.’* 
It is not hard for a thief to love a thief, 
or to love those who love in return; 
it is not hard for the money lender to give 
to him who he knows will repay. But 
who would know the kingdom must “Give 
to every man that asketh of thee.” Give 
to those who persecute and work all man¬ 
ner of evil, “For with the same measure 
that ye mete withal it shall be measured 


198 Jesus of Nazareth. 


to you again, good measure, pressed down 
and running over.” 

To love and serve in the Master’s name 
is to be a light of the world;—guiding 
mankind from the darkness of doubt, ig¬ 
norance, superstition, fear, misery and 
death to infinite power and life eternal. 
Loving and serving in the Master’s name 
is the irradiation reaching to the world 
weary wanderers on the sands of time, 
giving them new vigor that they may take 
heart and follow the light which will lead 
them home. The Apostles were chosen 
to give light to the World;—and Judas 
was one of the number. They were not 
all healers; but were preparing the way 
that they might become worthy and well 
qualified to manifest the works of God. 

Buddha, Pythagoras, Lao-Tsze, 
Christ, each and every Master had their 
time of waiting, and their trial of ability. 
The twelve Apostles had three years of 
preparatory work in order that they might 
become master of the body; then they, 
too, had the test of ability. Yet the or¬ 
dinary way of man is to think that open- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


199 


ing the Bible or the prayer book is the 
way of becoming a follower of Christ. 

Christ taught that it was necessary to 
go into the wilderness of individual appe¬ 
tites and desires and master them, making 
them obedient to control. He gave the 
Apostles the manner of self-preparation 
by direct instruction. The way of salva¬ 
tion is doing the Master’s bidding hour by 
hour, day after day, in the actual prayer 
of control wherein is meant living the life 
of love for all men, cleansing the body of 
all desire, controlling the appetites and 
being lead not into temptation. Judas 
failed to live the prayer of control. 

How often has desire for money 
changed the life of man; who from the 
frugal minded, serving in the Master’s 
Cause, uses the very expressions of God, 
as a means to gratify self. Surely where 
desire is on one side and God on the other, 
there must be an absolute surrender, or 
desire will conquer. Desire has made 
property rights greater than human rights 
and made of man a worshipper of mam¬ 
mon, instead of God. 


200 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Herein is where Judas Iscariot fell. 
The temptation to which he yielded was 
indeed great, and in a moment of weak¬ 
ness it swept him down into the whirlpool 
of body desire. Being mercenary by nat¬ 
ural impulse and having all money paid 
to him as keeper of the common fund, the 
purse grew into a desire. Through the 
duties of the office he held, he again felt 
the swaying force of desire for material 
gain. It was easy for him to think: “I 
am a man of funds, one of power. All 
that is given to the Master and those serv¬ 
ing Him comes to me. I prepare the 
way.” Thus his desire body became 
greater, and less and less amenable to 
control. Judas could not see that this was 
so,—no one can, when they are living in 
the physical side of nature—so the time 
came when he, unable to resist the deisre 
for money, went to the high priests who 
had prepared the way and told them, he 
thought he could make it easy for them, 
to know who Christ was. They answered 
that they did not want him to deliver his 
Master to them;—they would take Him, 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


201 


—all they wanted was that Judas should 
kiss his Master. Surely there was no harm 
in a simple kiss; and for doing just that 
little thing,—the giving a kiss to one he 
loved—they would give him thirty pieces 
of silver. 

When that last night came before the 
betrayal, Christ went a “ Stone’s cast ” 
from the Apostles, as was His wont, to 
pray. When He came to them again He 
said the Passover was at hand—the time 
for His travail had come. 

Judas Iscariot knew Christ was a Mas¬ 
ter power. For three years he had seen 
his Master cleanse the lepers, give sight 
to the blind, make the broken bodies whole 
and the lame to walk; he had seen sin 
pass out of the lives of those Christ had 
touched. Had not the Master raised 
Lazarus from the dead? Was there any¬ 
thing this Lord among men could not do ? 
Why not kiss Him, and increase the 
amount in the purse by thirty pieces of 
silver? Legions of angels would surely 
take Christ from the soldiers, and all men 
would know tlia/ He was divine- 


202 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


The law was to be fulfilled. “ Pray 
that ye enter not into temptation.” Do 
not attempt to deceive yourself. Almost 
all the crimes of the world are the result 
of trying to deceive yourself. Judas was 
offered thirty pieces of silver,—the purse 
was to be enlarged perceptibly by one 
little act. Had Judas not sought to de¬ 
ceive himself he would not have yielded 
to temptation and would not have been the 
betrayer of his Master. When Christ 
had finished His prayer and was speaking 
to the Apostles a multitude came—and 
among them was Judas. He sought to 
kiss his Master, but Christ said, “ Judas, 
betrayest thou the Son of man with a 
kiss?” The soldiers then seized Him and 
Christ said to the chief priests, “ Be ye 
come out as against a thief, with swords 
and staves? When I was daily with 
you in the temple, ye stretched forth no 
hands against Me.” 

Following this came the temptation 
both man and disciple can so easily enter 
into. Peter, the zealous one, the first 
Apostle chosen by Christ, followed the 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


203 


motley crowd to the high priest’s house and 
sat down among them. A maid, looking 
at him said, “ This man was also with 
Him;” and Peter replied, “ I know Him 
not.” There is the great difference be¬ 
tween this act and the one of Judas, in 
that this was momentary and not based 
upon desire. A little later another saw 
Peter and said, “Thou are also of them;” 
and he answered, “ Man, I am not.” 
About an hour afterward still another 
said, “ This fellow was also with Him,” 
and Peter said, “ I know not what thou 
sayest.” While Peter was yet talking the 
cock crew, and then he remembered the 
Master had told him that before the cock 
crowed he would deny Him three times. 
Realizing what he had done Peter went 
out and wept and moaned. 

It is said to all, “ Pray that ye enter 
not into temptation.” No matter how 
much one has attained, no matter how 
close one is to heaven’s door, if tempta¬ 
tion can not be met with strength and un¬ 
wavering determination, the portal will 
close and entrance into God’s kingdom 


204 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


will not be given. Man believes and many 
times comes close to God’s altar; but not 
being able to stand before temptation that 
comes with the suddenness of a flash from 
out the blue, the kingdom is not yet for 
him. There is much of the Judas nature 
and much of Peter in man who allows 
his bodily frailties to master him. When 
this does occur, it is then necessary to 
come again to God in the humbleness of 
spirit that has cast doubt and desire aside. 
“ Pray that ye be not led into tempta¬ 
tion ” is indeed the cardinal principle that 
will keep man from crucifying a fellow 
man. Betrayal always brings its own re¬ 
ward. Man meets a whirlwind by but¬ 
toning up his coat and passing through it. 
When a rain storm comes he raises an um¬ 
brella and continues unhindered on his 
way. Likewise, when the storms of life 
come, button up the coat and pass un¬ 
daunted through them. Behind the clouds 
the sun is always shining; in the light there 
are no shadows. If the shadows of phys¬ 
ical existence beset the individual there 
will be wailing and gnashing of teeth; but 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


205 


if met unwaveringly for the right, joy, 
peace and power infinite will be the result. 
Peter fell before temptation and he 
moaned and wept, but followed his Master 
to the cross and filled out a life in service. 
Judas Iscariot took the silver pieces back 
to the priests, saying, “ Here is your blood 
money. I have betrayed my Master. I 
have been traitor to a Messiah. I have 
taken something I can not replace.” The 
priests replied that they would not take 
the silver, it was blood money. Then 
Judas, leaving the money, went into a 
field and hanged himself. The priests 
took the silver pieces and with them bought 
the self-same field and called it the “ Pot¬ 
ter’s Field,” or the field of sorrow. So, 
“ Lead us not into temptation; but deliver 
us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and 

the power, and the glory, for ever and 
»» 

ever. 


Chapter XII. 

THOMAS. 

I N the 1 1 th chapter of St. John, the 14th 
and 15th verses, is this statement made 
by Christ to His Apostles:—“ Lazarus 
is dead; and I am glad for your sakes 
that I was not there, to the intent that ye 
may believe; nevertheless let us go to 
him.” In the 23rd verse Christ said this: 
—“ Thy brother shall rise again.” In the 
20th chapter of St. John, beginning with 
the 24th verse, is the account containing 
the words of Thomas: “ Except I see in 
his hands the print of the nails, and thrust 
my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 

Thomas was one of the Apostles se¬ 
lected by Christ to carry a message to the 
world of men. The message was, “ I am 
not dead, and because I live ye shall live 
also.” “ He that believeth on Me shall 
have everlasting life.” “ The words I 
speak unto you, I speak not of Myself; 
206 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


207 


but the Father in Me, He doeth the 
works.” “ Believe Me that I am in the 
Father and the Father in Me; or else be¬ 
lieve Me for the very works’ sake.” “The 
Father and I are one.” “Behold the king¬ 
dom of God is within you.” 

These, with probably a hundred other 
aphorisms, form the central ground upon 
which the Master sought to teach man¬ 
kind, that the physical body and the life 
within, were two separate conditions. 
Thomas was one of the twelve selected to 
carry this message to the human family. 
Yet, while he was willing to torture his 
body in the Master’s service, and ready 
to die with Him, he of doubting mind, 
hesitated when it came to accepting the 
divinity of Christ’s nature. He said, 
“ Until I can see the wounds of the nails 
in His hands, and put my hand in His 
wounded side, I will not believe.” 

Today, in the churches and out of 
them, the number of doubting ones, like 
Thomas, is very great. They do not con¬ 
sist of, here and there, one isolated from 
his fellows, but the greater portion of the 


208 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


world are doubting the essential factors 
upon which Christ builded His religion. 
Where is the church or the people who 
believe it possible to do today, the things 
exemplified by the Master and His Apos¬ 
tles? Where is the preacher or the in¬ 
dividual, who believes it possible to heal 
the sick, make the blind see, the lame to 
walk, and cast out devils, by the power 
of the Lord,—which Christ said was al¬ 
ways at hand to heal man’s infirmities? 
There are many who believe it has been 
accomplished by man, but the possibility 
belonged to the time of the Apostles—not 
to the now. Yet, there is not a jot or tittle 
written in the Scriptures, that will accord 
with a conception of this kind. Thus, 
those of the doubting Thomas type, are 
bowing the head to a thing they believe 
not. 

Christ said, “ In My name, heal the 
sick, make the lame to walk and the blind 
to see. In My name cast out devils, heal 
the lepers and preach the kingdom of 
God.” These three things, healing, 
preaching and casting out devils, are the 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


209 


signs, the pass word, which opens the 
door to the Christian life. Yet, where will 
a professed Christian be found, who will 
accept these as cardinal principles of life? 
The doubting Thomas is asking for an 
opportunity to put his palsied hand in the 
side of a thing that dies, for this will be 
a means to his belief. Three-fourths of 
the people thus seek, through physical 
means to find the way of salvation. They 
think more of the garb of hypocrisy, the 
traditions of men, of cant and social place, 
than they do of the simple truths of Christ 
who directs—if there be ought of hate, 
jealousy, or contention, go to God’s altar 
and leave them there. If there are feel¬ 
ings which make crooked places, in the 
life that should be straight, take them out 
as completely as one would uproot a pois¬ 
onous weed. Take all lustful desires, all 
downtearing impulses and appetites to the 
altar, and placing them upon it, say: 
“ These iniquities, henceforth, will have 
no part in my life.” Then turning from 
them, enter into the closet of the inner life 
and there ask, " Whatsoever ye will and 


210 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


your Father which is in heaven will grant 
it even before the asking.” 

How many have had prayer answered? 
Few indeed;—because they have not 
asked according to the directions given by 
Christ. Few, pitifully few, have cleansed 
themselves from egotistic tendencies, from 
the dominion of appetite, and from all 
thought of self, before making the peti¬ 
tion. Most of mankind ask of God as the 
Pharisee did, using the prayer of much 
speaking instead of the one of doing, and 
is the desire of receiving rather than the 
one of giving. Like those of the Judean 
time, they have said the “ Dos ” and 
“ Donts ” until their limbs are palsied, but 
have never offered a prayer by doing the 
work of “Him who sent Me.” If they 
had offered the prayer by doing the work, 
they would know the Father answered 
even before the asking; they would know 
the physical body and the Force within 
were separate conditions; they would 
know the signs demanded by Christ must 
follow the Christian today, just as surely 
as they did in the time of the Apostles. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


211 


There would be no doubting Thomas, 
asking that a side be opened in order that 
he might thrust in his hand. Blessed are 
they who believe, yet who have not had 
this sort of sign. 

Why does man doubt the spiritual 
truths? Why does he doubt love and 
Infinite life? Because he resides on the 
physical side of life more than upon the 
spiritual. Engrossed with the things of 
the bodily life, he has not yet touched 
Infinite principle, which must irradiate 
from within the center of his life. 

These say, “ I believe in God ” yet 
they tear ddwn and destroy by hate, greed 
and lust, the physical being which should 
be made into a tabernacle for the use of 
the living God. These say, “ I love,” 
yet they hold themselves aloof from other 
of God’s creatures, saying, “ I am better 
than they.” They say, “ I love, and am 
ready to serve in the Master’s Cause,” 
then, turning to one of the least of these, 
in the human family, will say, ” You poor 
wretch, I am sorry for you. If you will 
come up to my exalted state of life, then. 


212 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


I can be at-one with you and recognize 
you as one of my caste, creed, or it may 
be social state.” Let it be known there 
is no love in condescension. There is no 
love in being egotistical. There is no love 
that is expressed in degrees controlled by 
conditions. Love in its fulness is the All, 
and gives all in willing service. 

He who would become capable of ex¬ 
pressing the Christ love, must love God 
with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, 
and his neighbor with the same sincerity. 
No one can do this by saying to others, 
“ Come up to my altitude where 1 can 
touch you.” Expressing the Christ love, 
means to go to those who are struggling on 
the denseness of sense life, as a brother. 
There is not a murderer, a thief,—not a 
human being, no matter how deep they are 
in physical degradation,—who is not just 
as good, under the crust of clay, as the 
most exalted of God’s creatures. The 
creeds, forms, ** Isms,” racial and social 
distinctions, are just obstacles separating 
man from God. No wonder man doubts 
the words of Christ when he feels himself 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


213 


better than his brother. No wonder he 
doubts while he is intent on seeking the 
faults and misdeeds in the lives of others, 
—failings that are only visible to him, in 
the degree they are similar to the frailties 
in his own life. No wonder he doubts, 
when freely criticising the acts of others, 
he cannot see the crooked places in his 
own life. “ Judge not, that ye be not 
judged.” 

Do not say the man who has ceased to 
judge or condemn is a weakling;—he is 
making use of the means which will bring 
him nearer to God. Touching the one 
who is stumbling over the rocks of phys¬ 
ical life, he says, “ Come, let us turn 
away from serving mammon, and cross 
over to the side that is God’s. He is going 
to that other, no matter how far down in 
life’s valley he may be, and will seek to 
bring him from the shadows back with him 
into the sunshine of divine life. Do not 
wait for another to make the upward 
climb, before holding out the hand of help. 
Go all the way, saying, “ My peace I 
give unto you.” That is what Christ did, 


214 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


though He knew a doubting Thomas was 
present. Christ did it because He knew 
the law was. Peace must be given to every 
living creature. Thomas was a doubting 
man: unless he could see and feel he 
could not know. Mercy is based upon 
faith and “ Faith is the evidence of things 
not seen.” While Thomas was devotion 
personified,—he did not have faith;— 
thus. Peace was withheld. 

Man does not give Peace to every 
creature—he feels power and material 
gain must be wrested from his fellows. 
Caste is a means of destroying Peace. The 
law governing the commercial life, is the 
old Judean one of “ An eye for an eye, a 
tooth for a tooth;” and the “ Survival of 
the fittest ”—the strong crushing the weak. 
It has been war to the knife, and from 
knife to the hilt, instead of brother help¬ 
ing brother. He who today, is living by 
barter, is living at the expense of his 
brother. He who heeds the call of social 
place, is living a life of contention and 
struggle with his fellow man. Why are 
the faces lined and distraught? Because 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


215 


society has not learned the law of “Peace 
on earth and good will to all men.” Peace 
and a doubting Thomas can not have the 
same abiding place. Peace can not be 
with those who are doubting the living 
principle of Christ. They who put their 
hand in the side of Him they think of as 
dead. They want to add inference and 
testimony to correct cognition. Today, 
the man who is a hindering obstacle in the 
life of Peace, is the one who wants to be 
shown signs;—They say they want to be¬ 
lieve, yet refuse to make use of the only 
means by which they can attain the know¬ 
ledge that is experience. These hindering 
ones will say to him who is doing the Mas¬ 
ter’s work;—“We have all manner of 
faith in you, personally, but when you say 
the miracles of the time of Christ and the 
Apostles, are accomplished now, we can 
not believe it.” It is the spirit of Thomas 
forever with us, for the spiritual Thomas 
did not die. He has lived these many 
ages in the hearts of men. He is alive to¬ 
day, in the hearts of all who can not be¬ 
lieve this most sacred law: “Verily, verily, 


216 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, 
the works that I do shall he do also; and 
greater works than these shall he do; be¬ 
cause I go unto My Father.” They say, 
“ If I could put my hand in the torn side 
of the Master, I could believe that I would 
not die, when my body crumbles in the 
grave.” 

To these, and to all mankind, the Mas¬ 
ter said, “If you want to know Me, 
Know that the Father is in Me and I in 
Him.” Go into the wilderness and cleanse 
the body from appetites and desires; 
prudery, cant, creed, tradition, hypocrisy 
and all conditions of the past. Cleanse 
the body from all the physical experiences 
upon which it has been fed. When the 
body life is clean, then ask for the light 
that will make clear the way from false 
conditions to truth; from fleeting things to 
life everlasting. Ask that the light within 
burn brightly, so that the whole body will 
be full of light. Ask, in the silence of 
solitude, these things of the Father within, 
by the sacrificing of preconceived ideas, 
forms and ideals, wherein doubt is ram- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


217 


pant. Ask for the preliminary base upon 
which to build life. Then, “ My creed,” 
” My church,” “ My father’s, mother’s, 
or it may be grandparent’s religion,” (as 
time turns life’s wheel forward,) will be 
found to be dead ashes of the past. 
Worthless as a means to take up the cross 
of Christ and bear the signs of the Master. 

Of what worth are the two hundred and 
more “ Do’s,” and the three hundred and 
more “ Dont’s,” of the Jews, to the here 
and now? What matters it if God is 
called Jehovah, Tat, Sat, or Aum, if God 
is not realized? Likewise, if one has hate, 
fear, lust, envy and doubt;—and glories 
in these possessions, why ask for a know¬ 
ledge of God? These downtearing, tor¬ 
turing things are the creations of doubt. 
When they are known for their true 
worth, and no longer sway the activities 
of life, then, will there be an entrance into 
the wilderness where, by fasting, sacrifice 
and renunciation, these noxious growths 
are transformed into uplifting, vital fac¬ 
tors, aiding and abetting an understanding 
of the life centered within. 


218 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


As the body reaches the negative or re¬ 
ceptive condition caused by the lack of 
food that feeds egotism, pride and selfish¬ 
ness, a transformation takes place in the 
heart. Dreams of illusion, aye of delu¬ 
sion, too, come, and with the going away 
of these comes the consciousness of being 
a part of Divine life. Then is compre¬ 
hended that the things of yesterday, or of 
tomorrow, do not count in the life of the 
soul; for now is the eternal moment, and 
upon it must be centered the best efforts 
of life. Drawing close to God’s king¬ 
dom, means consciousness that within the 
individual there dwells an Infinite Force, 
that links together every life, without re¬ 
gard to caste, creed, sex, or color in the 
Brotherhood of man, for all are a part of 
God. Each human being is a unit in the 
cosmos. 

Thomas was a devoted follower of 
Christ; yet it was impossible for him to 
believe that which could not be made ap¬ 
parent. His conception was that divinity 
and the body were one; therefore the body 
could not die. If the body failed in life 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


219 


continuity, then indeed, was the fabric of 
belief shaken,—and there must be strong 
evidence to prove the existence of the now 
perishable Saviour of all mankind. “ I 
will believe,” are no idle words; but be¬ 
long alike to the saint and sinner. All, in 
fact, who demand tangible evidence of 
super-human existence. Indeed it is the 
same mental impulse that compels an obe¬ 
dience to material remedies, while deny¬ 
ing the power of God to cure the ills of 
man. 

“ Blessed are the pure in heart: for 
they shall see God.” “ Blessed are the 
peacemakers: for they shall be called the 
children of God.” These “ Blesseds ” 
have been slogans with which to crucify 
and crush the egotistic self, until it is pos¬ 
sible to stand before God with implements 
with which God’s work can be made mani¬ 
fest. Christ said, “ In My name, preach 
the kingdom of God.” “ In My name ” 
make the body whole; heal all man’s in¬ 
firmities. Why cure the sick? Because 
no physical body can be in harmony with 
God when it is diseased and broken. 


220 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


Therefore, the law is, bring it back to per¬ 
fect adjustment, so it can be capable of re¬ 
sponding to the touch of the divine life. 
Great as was Christ’s work of healing, it 
was not all of His mission. In truth, heal¬ 
ing was just an instance, for its purpose 
was that of raising man upward to the 
understanding of the kingdom of God 
that is within his being. Still the doubt¬ 
ing world wants to touch the wounded 
side and feel the imprint of the nails in the 
hands; ere it believes that there is a life 
continuous. “ Let us put our hand in the 
wounded side, then we can believe,” is 
the devil assertion, “Cast thyself down 
from yon mountain.” The Master’s 
words ring through the ages, “ It is writ¬ 
ten, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God.” Again the doubting voice will 
say, “If you have the power to change 
these stones into bread, do it;—let us see 
the nail prints.” Yet the Master answers, 
“ Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God.” 

Doubting man can not reach the con- 


Jesus of Nazareth . 221 

ception that God will feed him. It is not 
possible to understand this until he has 
freed his nature from the darkness of hate, 
fear, contention and doubt, and made the 
inner light shine with love that is expressed 
in service to his fellow man. An instinct 
governed being, swayed by the impulses 
and appetites, can not know God. In¬ 
stinct is narrow in its conceptions and cruel 
and terrible in its tendencies. Those 
dwelling within its limitations think more 
of their shape, size, color and comforts 
than they do of God. Ninety per cent in 
the churches;—artificial in character, 
powdered and painted, and clothed in 
false raiment, are bowing to creed and 
dogma, with no thought given to the divin¬ 
ity embedded within the covered gaudiness 
of body life. No wonder when the time 
called death comes, their moans of despair 
are heard, for their* s is the moan of doubt 
that has not found God. 

The simplest thing in all the world, is 
salvation. It is to love thy God and thy 
neighbor with all the heart, mind, soul and 
strength. Not a part, and not grudg- 


222 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


ingly, but completely, freely and truly. 
“ Do this and thou shalt know eternal 
life.” Love so the cloak of charity will 
cover as a mantle, the frailties of an¬ 
other, perhaps a weaker or lesser brother, 
and no evil will be seen in the life of a 
neighbor. Love so truly, life will gladly 
be laid down for a friend. Yet, love, 
great as it is, and all powerful as it is, is 
not enough, because to it must be added 
service. Love and service combined is the 
force that binds man to God. Loving 
service is the one thing that builds man 
upward, from the condition of death and 
decay, to that of a living soul, and a life 
immortal. 

Doubters will say to the Master’s la¬ 
borer, “That is a wonderfully intellectual 
study you have. I really would like to 
know more about it, had I the time to 
spare.” Those who have so stated, are 
wise and prudent, but are erring about the 
infinite, which like the gepi underneath 
the waves on the bed of the ocean, lies 
hidden from the surface of things. Hid¬ 
den from human understanding and ex- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


223 


perience by hate, greed, fear and doubt; 
hidden because the things of much learn¬ 
ing and of material gain, are more than 
the desire to possess God. Doubt not, for 
doubt is material and destroys the per¬ 
spective that allows of super-normal ex¬ 
perience. Christ said of the woman who, 
though sinning, had faith and loved much; 
—that the unselfishness and intensity of 
her love, had made her whole. If it has 
made one whole, it can make every human 
being whole; for it is raising the body life 
to an experience of God. 

To live the life of a laborer in God’s 
vineyard, the strength and expression of 
the individual love force must not depend 
upon the attitude of any one else;— 
whether love returned is much or little;— 
whether the attitude is one of kindness or 
coldness, matters not. What does count 
is loving, serving and living for the Mas¬ 
ter’s Cause. Make of individual love a 
living force,—that will express “ Not my 
will but Thine be done.” Love depends 
for expression upon the strength and truth 
of the body; for supply,—upon the ocean 


224 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


of all life. “ With what measure ye mete 
withal, it shall be measured to you again, 
measure pressed down and running over 
will men give unto your bosom.” Try it. 
It will mean the power to say, “ I know,” 
instead of “ I believe.” 

It is a glorious time when man can say, 
“ I am a part of God.” It is a glorious 
time when he has gained the power to 
place his hand upon the tortured brow and 
bring peace there, and restore the palsied 
to health. It is a glorious time when he 
can change the sorrows of the world 
weary into the harbor of love and peace. 
Greater still is the time, when knowledge 
of being a part of the Infinite life is at¬ 
tained, and that “ It is not me, but the 
Father in me. He doeth the works.” It 
is a glorious time, when the individual can 
say, “ In my life there will never be any 
more doubting or asking for a sign, be¬ 
cause I am anchored where love is, where 
peace is, and my life and my service, be¬ 
longs to every creature when they need it. 

Thomas became the Apostle of Christ’s 
message to the East, where he labored and 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


225 


was at last martyred. He changed from 
the doubter to the Saint, as all must do, 
who change from the unbeliever to the 
Knower, wherein God is all. 


Chapter XIII 


TIMOTHY. 

/ERILY, verily, I say unto you, he 
V that believeth on Me, the works 
that I do shall he do also; and greater 
works than these shall he do; because I 
go unto My Father.” This is the 12th 
verse in the 14th chapter of St. John and 
is well to be considered in connection with 
the work of Timothy. Attention is then 
directed to several verses selected from the 
Epistles of Paul to Timothy. In First 
Timothy, the 5 th, 6th and 7th verses of 
the first chapter is stated this: “ Now 
the end of the commandment is charity out 
of a pure heart, and of a good conscious, 
and of a faith unfeigned: From which 
some having swerved, having turned aside 
into vain jangling; desiring to be teachers 
of the law; understanding neither what 
they say, nor whereof they affirm.” Fol¬ 
lowing this read from the 11 th verse to 
226 


Jesus of Nazareth. 22 7 

the end of the 4th chapter and then from 
the 8th to the 15th verse in the 1 st chapter 
of Second Timothy. 

In the Epistles to Timothy an abund¬ 
ance of this sort of exhortation is given 
by Paul, showing clearly the truth of 
Apostolic succession. The aphorism of 
Christ: “ He that believeth on Me, the 
works that I do shall he do also; and 
greater works than these shall he do,” is 
a direct command from the Master to His 
Apostles who in turn give the same com¬ 
mand to their disciples. An Apostle 
means one who is serving. It means that 
man or that woman who, intent upon 
manifesting the works of God to the hu¬ 
man family, goes where he or she is sent. 
An Apostle is a messenger carrying the 
teachings of Christ to all who will listen, 
and to such is the promise given, “ All 
that I do and greater works than these 
shall ye do, provided ye do them in My 
name.” An Apostle is one who has ar¬ 
rived at an understanding of the kingdom 
of God and attained the crucial know¬ 
ledge that “ Faith without works is dead.” 


228 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Christ’s command to the Apostles: “ Go 
ye to all the world and preach the king¬ 
dom of God,” the kingdom “ That is 
within you,” is a concrete expression of 
the message that is to be carried to all 
who are groping in outer darkness that 
they may understand there is a place in 
which they can abide in joy, power and 
peace—a place wherein death can have 
no sting and the grave no victory. This 
message carries the tiding to those who 
are worrying about the number of their 
years that there is no old age for the life 
that is of God, the life they can know if 
they will turn from the things of mammon 
to the work of loving and serving their 
fellow man. Simple and surpassingly 
wonderful is the completeness of this 
thought—Go preach the kingdom that is 
within you. 

The first and the last step in the jour¬ 
ney to God’s realm is to find this inner 
kingdom and there abide. To love God 
with all the heart, soul, mind and strength 
is the way to open the doors of the heart 
to the oncoming force of infinite life. Then 


Jesus of Nazareth. 229 

express this all powerful force to the 
neighbor. How? By loving him with 
all the heart, with all the soul, with all 
the mind and strength. This means lay¬ 
ing hold of the covenant by which the 
physical being is made an instrument ex¬ 
pressing the will of the God life that is 
within the self. It is the heart action of 
one human life to another human life and 
the God action from within. An all 
powerful thing is the work of the man 
who understands this truth. God is a con¬ 
crete realization that means ecstasy, 
tranquillity but not happiness as the term 
is ordinarily understood;—but the com¬ 
placency giving power to meet hate, fear, 
criticism, adulation, blame, praise, pov¬ 
erty, plenty, success and failure with ex¬ 
actly the same feeling. God conscious¬ 
ness experienced means possession of a 
complacent heart, as unchanging as the 
sun in heaven in the meeting of all the ills 
of mankind. Ninety-nine per cent of the 
sorrows of man’s life are self inflicted. 
The other per cent, is the result of inad¬ 
vertency to the law. All hate, fear. 


230 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


worry, jealousy, lust and contention are 
physical creations. Man uses his eyes, 
the voice, the heart action, all he has for 
the purpose of striking at and destroying 
his fellow creatures. He forgets the law: 
“For with the same measure that ye mete 
withal, it shall be measured to you again.” 
This is incorrectly thought to mean the 
giving of alms;—the false charity of the 
hypocrite—but it means that by every act 
of the individual, he either opens the door 
to divine life, or holds it fast closed to 
the force that purifies the mind and heart 
for the service of God. 

Christ made no mistake when He said: 
“ Judge not lest ye be judged.” He 
made no misstatement in any of His ap¬ 
horisms as all will find who put them to 
the test of experience as the Master di¬ 
rects. These are laws to be made prac¬ 
tical factors in the daily life. They are 
work aphorisms the simple, confiding mind 
of the child can understand, but not the 
wise and prudent; because the latter will 
not put them to the test. Ask the wise, 
those who are pleased with their much 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


231 


learning, if they are willing to follow the 
directions of Christ, and they will reply, 
“Yes,—but.” There is no “but;” if 
the individual is not ready to surrender 
all, he is not ready to enter the divine 
kingdom that is so very close at hand to 
all. To be pure in heart, means to open 
the door so God can manifest according 
to His purpose. The intention is not to 
state that God is only within man, but 
that each individual is a part of God, in 
the proportion that he cleanses the activi¬ 
ties of his life, and thus makes the phys¬ 
ical being capable of expressing the works 
of God. To the one with steadfast mind, 
intent upon love, charity, patience, meek¬ 
ness and purity of heart is the Master’s 
promise given, “ All that I do and greater 
things than these shall ye do, in My 
name.” “ Believe Me that I am in the 
Father and the Father in Me: or else be¬ 
lieve Me for the very works’ sake.” These 
works are in preaching the kingdom of 
God, healing the sick, making the blind 
see, cleansing the diseased, giving light to 
those who are in darkness and casting out 


232 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


devils. Preaching the kingdom that is 
within deals with the infinite, eternal force 
that is centered within the earthy form. 
Healing the sick, the lame, the halt and 
the blind, deals with bringing the dis¬ 
eased, discordant conditions into a state 
of receptivity in which these respond to 
the touch of God. Casting out devils 
means bringing the mind 1 and body into 
that agreement which brings at-one-ment 
with God. These were the teachings of 
Christ when all the world was watching 
a little band of men do mighty works 
under the direction of One who went 
through persecution and crucifixion in 
order to be a part of God’s life. The 
Master who could kiss Judas though He 
knew it meant physical death, knew the 
physical life on the one side and the soul 
life on the other, so truly and completely, 
that these were blended in a harmony 
that was absolute. 

“ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
and His righteousness; and all these 
things shall be added unto you.” Lay 
hold of the idea. It means seeking one- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 233 

ness with the eternal life within the self. 
All things will be added unto the man 
who has learned to control ambition, hate, 
desire for material gain, fear, discontent, 
falseness, prick and makes of these ser¬ 
vants in the Master’s Cause. The worldly 
wise say, “ I have abiding faith in God— 
but I am afraid of the coming tomorrow. 
I believe in the Bible—but I fear the 
days of miracles are past.” Words of 
this kind are those of the hypocrite, hold¬ 
ing to deadly tendencies, that create the 
atheist. Those who utter them are de¬ 
claring belief in the letter, and letting the 
vital principles of eternal life, lie dead and 
inert in their hands. If there was belief 
in the faith that cleansed the lepers, the 
faith that raised Dorcas, the faith that 
made walking on the water possible to 
Peter, (until he gave way to the impulse 
of fear) ; a belief in the faith that really 
did things back yonder; then would there 
be realizing the truth of the promise, 
“ Greater things than these shall ye do.” 

An understanding of the eternal law of 
love in the life of serving God and man, 


234 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


is to put the law to the test and know 
things. No child can understand the laws 
of mathematics while he quibbles over the 
statement of two plus two equals four. No 
student of the Christ religion who has 
passed beyond the fourth grade will quib¬ 
ble about whether or not Christ’s com¬ 
mands can be fulfilled. If Christ did do 
these things, then in all humility and can¬ 
dor the question naturally arises: was 
there a transmission of this wonderful 
force, one to another? Was Christ’s a 
direct, wonderful science, pr a special 
dispensation given only to one man? 
Paul, Polycarp, Barnabas, Clemens, all 
the Apostles declare it was a science in 
which was no dispensation. Christ took 
the lowly, unlettered Peter and gave him 
authority over disease. He did this by 
compelling Peter, by precept and ex¬ 
ample, to live the law of love and service; 
and the raising Dorcas from the dead was 
the answer to the question, “ Could he do 
the works of Christ?” 

Sacred writ is full of records of the 
works of the Apostles, and the presump- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


235 


tion is, that all who will qualify them¬ 
selves can do the same works accomplished 
by them. Make this presumption an in¬ 
dividual realization by living the life of 
love and service. Peter had the same 
appetites, desires and impulses every other 
individual possesses; but these he over¬ 
came by learning the law of love and by 
serving all men without ^recognition of 
caste, creed, social state or race. 

The early Apostles had great difficulties 
to contend with. First, there was the 
Jewish law of circumcision that declared 
the uncircumcised were barred from en¬ 
trance into the kingdom of heaven. Paul 
had met this before. Then there was the 
controversy between the followers of the 
Master who were preaching the kingdom 
that “ is within you,” healing the sick and 
casting out devils, and those bound by 
caste, creed, ritual and the traditions of 
men, as to which were the real Apostles. 
This warfare was waged until the bar¬ 
riers were laid low and it was acknow¬ 
ledged there was no caste, race, creed, 
sex or color in the religion of Christ. 


236 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


The Apostle Paul went over the land, 
doing the works exemplified by Christ; 
and Peter had followers who were work¬ 
ing for the Master’s Cause under his 
guidance and these, too, were Apostles. 
Remember, the Apostle is that man whose 
work of preaching the kingdom of God,— 
the kingdom of divine power that is 
within,—healing the sick and casting out 
devils, is his parchment recording in let¬ 
ters of gold, his right to be known as a 
servant of God. This degree is not trans¬ 
mitted from lip to ear, from father to son, 
but conferred by divine inspiration only to 
that individual who has raised the body 
from an inert thing to a vibrant instrument 
amenable to the power that is of God. 
Hear the words of the Great Teacher: 
Be long suffering, be meek, be peaceful, 
be complacent under all conditions. Do 
not worry about things of much learning. 
Do not give heed to those who have 
twisted the laws of God into the traditions 
of men. Teach the divine kingdom of 
love in sincerity. Heal the sick, cast out 
devils, make the diseased broken bodies 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


237 


whole. Give courage to the weak, under¬ 
standing to the ignorant and purity to the 
defiled. These are the works, that make 
Apostles. 

Of what avail is the teaching of the 
soul by one who would not know a soul 
if it appeared before him? The Apostle 
knows the soul in all its truth. He also 
knows the body in detail, he knows it in 
its weakness and its possibilities and says 
to it, “ Come. My peace I give unto 
you,” not the peace of the physical world, 
but the peace beyond human understand¬ 
ing, that changes a discordant life into 
the state of harmony that means one-ness 
with God. The Apostle must give the 
peace that will change the life from a pas¬ 
sion swayed, instinct governed being to a 
living soul;—the peace that will change 
the warped being into the flower of love 
and life. To this end more love is needed, 
—the love that gives and desires nothing 
in return. The Apostles teach of love 
without ceasing. Paul said that he had 
fought a good fight and finished his 
course; he had kept the faith; and he ex- 


238 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


horted Peter to be diligent in carrying the 
Master’s message to the world of men. 
The Apostles went up and down the land 
doing mighty works: casting out devils, 
giving sight to the blind, giving joy to 
those who were in sorrow, changing con¬ 
tention into gentleness and love. Peter 
was not the only one, neither was Tim¬ 
othy. There were Polycarp, Ignatius, 
Barnabas and fifteen or twenty more 
master minds in that second century doing 
the same work Christ exemplified to man, 
only more influential now because better 
understood. People began to flock to 
the meetings and the Catacombs that 
marked the first place of meeting were 
now changed to more public places. The 
time came when these master minds had 
so honeycombed Rome it was forced to 
acknowledge Christianity and make it a 
factor of the great Empire. This was the 
beginning of the Roman Church that 
claims Peter as the founder. 

Timothy was a servant of the living 
God. He did carry the Christ message 
to all men, he did heal the sick and preach 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


239 


the kingdom of God. But the religion 
he gave to mankind was not of creed, 
dogma or ritual. Do not lose sight of the 
fact—an Apostle of Christ is that one who 
manifests the works of God. Timothy, 
though removed from the time of Christ 
by sixty years, accomplished the same 
works. It is also true that Judas Iscariot, 
up to the time of the betrayal, did the work 
of an Apostle. Though he is remem¬ 
bered as a traitor, he was selected as one 
of the twelve Apostles because of his fit¬ 
ness to do the works of healing, preach¬ 
ing the kingdom and casting out devils. 
These works were manifested by him, 
until, in a moment of physical weakness, 
he gave way to the temptation of thirty 
pieces of silver; yet almost before they 
were in his hand he repented with remorse 
so great that when he found he could not 
undo the wrong, he hanged himself. 

In Timothy is found an example of an 
individual serving God. Doing what? 
Loving his neighbor. How? By serv¬ 
ing all in equal sincerity. Timothy’s 
Epistles are not in the Bible; but by those 


240 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


who have had the privilege of reading 
them they are declared to be marvels of 
dictation and wonderful in their sim¬ 
plicity. This is true of the writings of all 
the Apostles. The personal history of 
Timothy matters little, though it is given 
in many books. The information that does 
matter is—can this wonderful power that 
is of God be transmitted from one person 
to another? Christ gave the power of 
the infinite life to His Apostles. John, 
Peter, Matthew, each one of the twelve 
followers accomplished the works exempli¬ 
fied by Him, and they likewise gave 
authority over disease to their Apostles. 
Timothy did the work, so did Poly carp, 
Ignatius, Barnabas, Paul, Stephen and 
many, many more, proving this power 
handed from one to another did accom¬ 
plish the same work exemplified by Christ. 
The cant and hypocrisy of the church 
have so deeply covered the Christ message 
with ritual, creed and dogma that the laws 
of God 1 have been set aside for the tradi¬ 
tions of men. 

Man bows his head in idle prayer and 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


241 


tramples over his neighbor in his greed 
for self gain. Why offer the wordy 
prayer to be heard by men when the Mas¬ 
ter’s command is to pray in this wise: If 
a single debt is owed to another, go to the 
altar of love. There lay every debt of 
hate, every unjust or unkind act, every 
desire to judge or condemn until the heart 
is made pure by love and service and the 
personal self can stand before the altar 
of God an immaculate thing. Then, 
“ Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father 
in My name He will give it you.” Re¬ 
sponse to this kind of prayer is always 
given, as every man who has lived the 
life of love and service can testify. This 
is not speaking of those who have touched 
only the husk—the outer form of Christi¬ 
anity—those bound by creed, dogma, 
tradition and superstition; but of that one 
who through love and service to God and 
man has arrived at the realization of God’s 
kingdom. 

Some wonder why one crude and un¬ 
lettered can ask with the assurance of the 
petition being granted, and the wise and 


242 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


prudent at most can only say, “ I think 
there have been times when my prayers 
may have been answered.” An example 
of the prayer that is unfailingly answered 
was given by an old man who, intent and 
sincere in his desire to be instrumental in 
relieving the sufferings of one afflicted with 
erysipelas, was steadily striking two pieces 
of flint over the awful swelling that in¬ 
dicated tortuous pain. The impressive 
thing was the intensity of both the man 
and the patient. For over an hour the 
fire from the flint flashed ceaselessly over 
the diseased portion of the body. Then 
the old man who had been oblivious to 
all except the work in hand quietly said to 
the patient, “ You will be all right by 
morning,” and went his way. His state¬ 
ment was true, not a vestige of the disease 
remained when morning came. How was 
this accomplished by the old man? For 
the time being he had made his body a 
passive instrument in the service of the 
Master. His desire to serve another was 
so intense that he was praying without 
ceasing and the other, responding to the 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


243 


great force of selfless love, becoming 
more and more free from the discordant 
state, came back to the condition of uni¬ 
son with the peace that surpasses human 
understanding. Thus was God made 
manifest in man. Before this unison that 
makes it possible to do the works of God 
is attained, the body life must be con¬ 
trolled, becoming tranquil as the still 
water. Then the spirit that is of God will 
manifest. This is the prayer that holds 
no thought of words; and is the Christ 
love manifesting in mighty works. 

All through the history of the dark 
ages, here and there, are found men like 
Timothy, standing on a mountain top 
giving the message of love to all who will 
heed. “ The kingdom of God is within 
you.” This kingdom is a universal 
school. Entrance is free to all, no excep¬ 
tions are made. The promotion card is 
handed to all and it remains for each one 
to fill in his name by doing the works ex¬ 
emplified by Christ and the Apostles. 
“ All that I do, and greater things than 
these shall ye do, provided ye do them in 


244 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


My name.” The physical things of life 
are transcient; the things of God are per¬ 
manent and these all must sometime know. 

Timothy was the first disciple of Paul 
and accompanied him on many of his 
journeys. His work was that of impas¬ 
sioned preaching and doing the work of 
healing. On account of his impassioned 
preaching he was first imprisoned to be 
released only to, later, suffer martyrdom. 


Chapter XIV. 

PAUL. 

P AUL was born in Galacia, a Jew 
according to the strictest sect. Being 
free born and a Roman citizen, he had 
privileges not given to the ordinary Jew. 

Intense, strong, virile in nature; en¬ 
dowed with an extraordinary mind, which 
in its nature was one of analysis;—he took 
the principles Christ enunciated and 
builded frotai them, a stupendous religious 
system, which later took possession of the 
western world. Next to Christ he was the 
greatest teacher of Christianity. 

Born almost at the same time as Jesus 
of Nazareth, he followed the vocation of 
the highest type of the Jew and became 
a Pharisee, which is the same as being a 
lawyer. It was therefore natural for him 
to have a commission from the chief priest 
to persecute the hated Christian. He 
naturally wanted to follow a course in 
245 


246 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


life consistent with his birth and breeding. 
So in the persecution of the Christian, Paul 
had no ill feeling toward them. He did 
not hate the men and women who had 
embraced the Christian faith,—indeed the 
persecutions were accepted as a duty to 
rid his faith of the blasphemies that were 
supposed to be a part of the new religion. 
Indeed, was it not blasphemy for poor 
ignorant fisherman, like Peter, to an¬ 
nounce a very God had been among them, 
doing mighty works,—was it not even 
greater blasphemy to have this man doing 
like “ mighty works?** Who, following 
the expressions of God, appointed Stephen 
as a miracle worker?—These men could 
not be warned from their ill advised course 
so it was necessary to destroy. Paul was 
one of the chief destroyers. 

It was while engaged in this, that the 
words recorded in the Acts, the 26th 
chapter, 14th to the 19th verse, were 
heard by him. 

Christ’s followers were a kindly type, 
full of faith and not fighting back. They 
had gained the realization of “ Love God 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


247 


and neighbor ” until it was a part of their 
life and they could look upon a foe with 
complacency and love. Drop a stone into 
a lake and though it may cause a ripple it 
does not disturb the lake. Just so the 
works of an enemy do not disturb the 
calmness of life. Love turns anger into 
peace, hatred into friendship;—love cures 
disease and makes happiness just as nat¬ 
ural as light is to the sun. It gives free¬ 
dom, not alone from sickness, but from 
worry, anger, prejudice and from the trials 
of every day life. Love God and thy 
neighbor was a teaching so different from 
the Mosiac law of, “ An eye for an eye, 
a tooth for a tooth,” that it is no wonder 
the Jews sent the pick of their number, 
to persecute and destroy the followers of 
Christ. 

The 18th verse of the 16th chapter of 
Mark reads: “ They shall take up ser¬ 

pents; and if they drink any deadly 
thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall 
lay hands upon the sick, and they shall 
recover.” In the Acts, the 26th chapter 
from the 14th to the 19th verse, there is 


248 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


this: “ And when we were all fallen to 
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto 
me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, 
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It 
is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 
And I said. Who art thou. Lord? And 
He said, I am Jesus whom thou perse¬ 
cutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: 
for I have appeared unto thee for this 
purpose, to make thee a minister and a 
witness both of these things which thou 
hast seen, and of those things in the which 
I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee 
from the people and from the Gentiles, 
unto whom now I send thee, to open their 
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to 
light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God, that they may receive forgiveness 
of sins, and an inheritance among men 
which are sanctified by faith that is in 
Me.” 

From the very beginning of his minis¬ 
try, a new impetus was injected into the 
Christian faith, for with the energy of 
conviction, that the Christ did live, and 
that his was a special revelation, he un- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


249 


tiringly impressed his views upon all who 
would listen. 

His faith was unbounded and no rebuff 
or ill usage would cause a suspension of 
the active ministry of Jesus Christ. This 
Faith is said to be undefined, misty and 
of little worth. All of which is not true, 
for he spoke in no uncertain terms of faith 
as “ The substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen.” Still 
the idea is offered, that faith was given as 
a justification within itself. This, how¬ 
ever, is not borne out by the life work of 
the Master. He spent most of His time 
in justifying faith by work. Justification 
of faith puts it upon the same basis as that 
given by James, and is really the basis 
of the Christ Religion. Christ said: “ If 
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, 
ye shall say to this mountain. Remove 
hence to yondter place, and it shall re¬ 
move; and nothing shall be impossible 
unto you.” This speaks in no uncertain 
terms of faith. 

The conception that Christ’s death as 
a means of salvation to all mankind, is 


250 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


given with the added thought, that salva¬ 
tion must be based upon work. Therefore 
while the death of Christ might be said, 
to be for the salvation of all, the test of 
the salvation is in living the life exem¬ 
plified by the Saviour. 

Thus faith is justified by work and love, 
from one to another. Salvation is through 
this same principle; so that while the Mas¬ 
ter’s death was a fulfilling of the law; 
the law must likewise be fulfilled by every 
soul seeking the way home. 

Love and Service being the way,— 
Paul hesitated at no time; going from one 
place to another justifying his faith in 
mighty works, in which healing the sick, 
casting out devils and preaching the king¬ 
dom, resulted in a mighty upheaval toward 
Christianity. 

Of course he was persecuted and vili¬ 
fied. Yet all the time he turned the other 
cheek. Giving in this connection the 
tests of the Christian in these words: “ I 
beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, that ye present your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


251 


unto God, which is your reasonable ser¬ 
vice. And be not conformed to this 
world: but be ye transformed by the re¬ 
newing of your mind, that ye may prove 
what is that good, and acceptable, and 
perfect, will of God. For I say, through 
the grace given unto me, to every man 
that is among you, not to think of himself 
more highly that he ought to think; but 
to think soberly according as God hath 
dealt to every man the measure of faith. 
For as we have many members in one 
body, and all members have not the same 
office; So we, being many, are one body 
in Christ, and every one members one of 
another. Flaving then gifts differing ac¬ 
cording to the grace that is given to us, 
whether prophecy, let us prophesy accord¬ 
ing to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, 
let us wait on our ministering; or he that 
teacheth on teaching; or he that exhorteth, 
on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do 
it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with dili¬ 
gence ; he that sheweth mercy, with cheer¬ 
fulness. Let love be without dissimula¬ 
tion. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to 


252 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


that which is good. Be kindly a Sectioned 
one to another with brotherly love; in 
honor preferring one another; not slothful 
in business; fervent in spirit; serving the 
Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribu¬ 
lation; continuing instant in prayer; dis¬ 
tributing to the necessity of saints; given 
to hospitality. Bless them which perse¬ 
cute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice 
with them that do rejoice, and weep with 
them that weep. Be of the same mind 
one toward another. Mind not high 
things, but condescend to men of low es¬ 
tate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Pro* 
vide things honest in the sight of all men. 
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, 
live peaceably with all men. Dearly be¬ 
loved, avenge not yourselves; but rather 
give place unto wrath: for it is written. 
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith 
the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hun¬ 
ger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; 
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of 
fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


253 


but overcome evil with good.” In this 
is, the active ministry of Paul. 

He gave an exposition of law, that to 
the true disciple, is a marvel of clearness. 
In this is expressed the idea, that no man 
is free before man made laws and creeds. 
To be free, is to be above the law, and 
this can only be accomplished by absolute 
surrender to the will of God. Thus he 
calls himself the slave of Jesus Christ. 
The law was given in supernatural pow¬ 
ers, in which he cured the sick: “ So that 
from his body were brought unto the sick 
handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases 
departed from them, and the evil spirits 
went out of them.”—Acts XIX-12. 

His defence before King Agrippi is a 
marvel of abstract knowledge and abound¬ 
ing faith, wherein he met face to face the 
credulous world and spoke of things not 
understood, in a manner that impressed 
those about him as one speaking with 
authority. 

He was said by Festus to be mad, and 
made this reply: “I am not mad, most 
noble Festus; but speak forth the words 


254 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


of truth and soberness. For the king 
knoweth of these things, before whom also 
I speak freely: for I am persuaded that 
none of these things are hidden from him; 
for this thing was not done in a corner. 
King Agrippi, believest thou the proph¬ 
ets? I know that thou believest. Then 
Agrippi said unto Paul, Almost thou per- 
suadest me to be a Christian. And Paul 
said, I would to God, that not only thou, 
but also all that hear me this day, were 
both almost, and altogether such as I am, 
except these bonds. And when he had 
thus spoken, the king rose up, and the 
governor, and Bernice, and they that sat 
with them: And when they were gone 
aside, they talked between themselves, 
saying, This man doeth nothing worthy 
of death or of bonds. Then said Agrippi 
unto Festus, “ This man might have been 
set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto 
Caesar.” 

The justification of his ministry was 
found in the remarkable instance in which 
he demonstrated his abnormal or spirit 
life as superior to and above the physical. 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


255 


He, with others, was cast upon an island, 
he a prisoner and the others his jailors. 
On this island they started to build a fire, 
when a viper fastened its fangs upon the 
wrist of Paul. The aborigines concluded 
that he was indeed guilty, or this deadly 
thing would not have happened; but when 
they saw him cast off the serpent into the 
fire and the wrist did not swell, or become 
tortuous in the pain that follows a ser¬ 
pent’s deadly poison, they fell down and 
worshipped him, saying that he was a 
God. Here is another instance, wherein 
the promise of Christ was fulfilled in the 
actual test of experience:—“No deadly 
thing shall hurt them.” 

Paul had no little to contend with in 
his relation to the other Apostles, for be 
it known his was a different authority 
from that which was accepted by the di¬ 
rect followers of Christ. Paul’s was a 
vision, their’s the authority of the Master; 
so there was contention until the Master 
Mind proved that all the promises of 
Christ given as a sign of the Christian, 
were a part of his life. 


256 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


Herein is a wonderful thought, or gift. 
That is, if Paul got his authority because 
of a vision and through living according 
to “ The strictest of his sect ” then every 
other individual in all the races of men 
can have like authority if they will but 
live the life of probity, truth and service. 

It means there is no royal road to suc¬ 
cession save the one of actually living the 
life; no special gifts, no decrees of fate. 
Every living creature must come to God 
the same way, and through the self-same 
knowledge. It means that love is the road 
and service the way, wherein sometime, 
somewhere, will be heard the Master’s 
call:—“ I have appeared unto thee for 
this purpose, to make thee a minister and 
a witness both of these things which thou 
hast seen, and! of those things in the which 
I will appear unto thee.” After Paul went 
to Ananias, the latter put his hands upon 
him and said, “ Brother Saul, the Lord, 
even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the 
way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that 
thou mightest receive thy sight, and be 
filled with the Holy Ghost. And immedi- 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


257 


ately there fell from his eyes as it had been 
scales; and he received sight forthwith, 
and arose, and was baptized.” In this 
manner is Paul’s ministry made plain. 

Paul wrote the Acts; the Epistle to the 
Romans; the Corinthians; Galatians; 
Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 
Thessalonians; Timothy; Titus; Phile¬ 
mon; and Hebrews. Most of these writ¬ 
ings were to a people, exhorting and di¬ 
recting them in the laws of God. 

Timothy was his beloved disciple and 
to him he impressed these truths both by 
association and by letter. Likewise to 
his other disciples. Thus in the works of 
Paul are the heart throbs of a mighty 
soul in the service of the Lord. 

He recognized that all men could not 
serve God alike, so he gave his wonder¬ 
ful desertation found in Corinthians: 
“ Now concerning spiritual gifts, breth¬ 
ren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye 
know that ye were Gentiles, carried away 
unto these dumb idols, even as ye were 
led. Wherefore I give you to under¬ 
stand that no man speaking by the Spirit 


258 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


of God calleth Jesus accursed; and that 
no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, 
but by the Holy Ghost. Noiw there are 
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 
And there are differences of administra¬ 
tions, but the same Lord. And there are 
diversities of operations; but it is the same 
God which worketh all in all. But the 
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every 
man to profit withal. For to one is given, 
by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to an¬ 
other the word of knowledge, by the same 
Spirit; to another faith, by the same 
Spirit; to another the gifts of healing, by 
the saime Spirit; to another the working 
of miracles; to another prophecy; to an¬ 
other discerning of spirits; to another 
divers kinds of tongues; to another the in¬ 
terpretation of tongues: But all these 
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
dividing to every man severally as he will. 
For as the body is one, and hath many 
members, and all the members of that one 
body, being many, are one body; so also 
is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all bap¬ 
tized into one body, whether we be Jews 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


259 


or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; 
and have been all made to drink into one 
Spirit. For the body is not one member, 
but many. If the foot shall say, Because 
I am not the hand, I am not of the body; 
is it therefore not of the body? And if 
the ear shall say, Because I am not the 
eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore 
not of the body? If the whole body 
were an eye, where were the hearing? If 
the whole were hearing, where were the 
smelling? But now hath God set the 
members every one of them in the body, 
as it hath pleased Him. And if they were 
all one member, where were the body? 
But now are they many members, yet but 
one body. And the eye cannot say unto 
the hand, I have no need of thee: nor 
again, the head to the feet, I have no need 
of you. Nay, much more, those members 
of the body, which seem to be more feeble 
are necessary: And those members of the 
body, which we think to be less honour¬ 
able, upon these we bestow more abund¬ 
ant honour; and our uncomely parts have 
more abundant comeliness. For our 


260 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


comely parts have no need: but God hath 
tempered the body together, having given 
more abundant honour to that part which 
lacked. That there should be no schism 
in the body; but that the members should 
have the same care one for another. And 
whether one member suffer, all the mem¬ 
bers suffer with it; or one member be 
honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 
Now ye are the body of Christ, and mem¬ 
bers in particular. And God hath set 
some in the church; first, apostles; sec¬ 
ondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; 
after that, miracles; then gifts of heal¬ 
ings, helps, governments, diversities of 
tongues. Are all Apostles? are all pro¬ 
phets? are all teachers? are all workers 
of miracles? Have all the gifts of heal¬ 
ing? do all speak with tongues? do all 
interpret? But covet earnestly the best 
gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more 
excellent way.” 

He recognized duality and gave this in 
the 15th chapter of Corinthians, wherein 
he said: “ All flesh is not the same flesh: 
but there is one kind of flesh of men, an- 


Jesus of Nazareth . 


261 


other flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and 
another of birds. There are also celestial 
bodies, and 1 bodies terrestrial: but the 
glory of the celestial is one, and the glory 
of the terrestrial is another. There is one 
glory of the sun, and another glory of the 
stars: for one star differeth from another 
star in glory. So also is the resurrection 
of the dead. It is sown in corruption; 
it is raised in incorruption.” “ So when 
this corruptible shall have put on incorrup¬ 
tion, and this mortal shall have put on 
immortality, then shall be brought to pass 
the saying that is written. Death is swal¬ 
lowed up in victory. O death, where is 
thy sting? O grave, where is thy vic¬ 
tory?” Thus there is freedom from the 
bondage of death. 

In baptism, he proclaimed the law of 
baptism by the Spirit, even though the 
symbol used was water. 

In the breaking of bread he established 
the common meal wherein all shared alike 
in a practical Brotherhood. This com¬ 
mon meal was a sacred meal. From this, 
at a later period, there ensued what has 


262 


Jesus of Nazareth. 


come to be known as the Lord’s Supper. 
This latter has around it much of worth 
in that it brings the individual to a con¬ 
ception. It has much of falsehood, in 
that it indicates an easy riddance of sin. 
Paul of course believed in sin and con¬ 
stantly talked of the corruptible body, 
that would sometime put on the incor¬ 
ruptible. Still his was not a vicarious 
atonement, but a life that lived the law 
and made of the Christ religion a vital 
force for the uplift of all men. 

His last assurance is one to be emulated 
by every Christian. “ I have fought the 
good fight, I have kept the faith.” 

How he died matters little. It does 
matter that his faith was alike to none 
other, a source of joy to the world of men 
from that age even unto the present. 


The Aim and Object 

OF THB 

Altrurian Society 

Is to teach the “Brotherhood of 
Man,” through love and service 
to all mankind and through spir¬ 
itual unfoldment to bring about 
the Realization of the Oneness 
of all life. 

It has organizations in almost 
every State in the Union. 

The officers of the Society 
are: 

President—Dr. L. A. Fealy, Birmingham, 
Ala. 

Vice President—Mr. J. W. Blair, San Fran¬ 
cisco, Cal. 

Secretary and Treasurer—Miss Grace P. 
Smith, Birmingham, Ala. 

Corresponding Secretary—Miss Bonnie Mc¬ 
Culloch, Birmingham, Ala. 




Books by 
Altrurian Society 


Lessons in pamphlet form. 10c 

Planes of Vibration, part of origi¬ 
nal course. 50c 

Emaculate Conception, a remark¬ 
able booklet on Christ’s birth. .. 10c 

Fealy Aphorisms, well worth read¬ 
ing. Leather. SOc 

Paper. 35 c 

Law of Way, in press, per volume.. $ 1.50 

Personal correspondence, one 
year, consisting of answers to 
personal questions. $25.00 


Personal instruction, two weeks to one 
month, not more than five at one time, not 
less than $250.00. This is the direct law of 
successful healing. 

Terms in advance. 

Dr. Fealy reserves the right to reject any 
whom he deems would not be benefited by 
instructions. 

Application must be made in advance. 

ALTRURIAN SOCIETY 

Birmingham, Ala. 

400-401 and 416 Farley Bldg. 
Phone 3590 




















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